


First Demon on the Grand Line

by Amply_Brecht



Category: One Piece, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: Gen, Post-Time Skip, Swearing, Temporary Character Death, Violence, discontinued
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-02-25 14:32:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2625251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amply_Brecht/pseuds/Amply_Brecht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SUPER DEAD LMAO,<br/>elements being reused in a new story.</p><p> </p><p>A demon crashed into the straw hat's ship, with no way home and no reason to return. [No pairings, post fishman island arc]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to the Grandline little demon!

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own One Piece or Yu Yu Hakusho. They belong to their rightful owners.

He was falling.

He was aware of his decent, but wasn’t anxious. He used to be afraid of falling, but he had gotten used to the sensation. In his line of work falling was a regular occurrence, whether it was from a human-made building, a mountainous pinnacle or simply off a ledge. He was okay with it now, he knew he would land on his feet, but this time he wasn’t so sure.

He felt numb to the world, he couldn’t really remember why he was falling. He was vaguely aware that his body was in pain, but it was as if he didn’t care. He never really cared about his personal wellbeing. He was determined to survive, insanely so, but he cared not for scars.

He opened one eye, and was surprised to see a blue sky instead of the red he had grown accustom to.

He closed the eye again. His mind was spinning. He felt so tired, so, so tired.

* * *

 

“SANJI!! I’m hungry!!”

“You just had lunch Luffy!” 

“But I’m still hungry!!!”

“Just give him something, I can’t stand his whining.”

“Yes Nami-swaaaaaan~”

The thousand sunny was quieter than usual this morning. Nico Robin welcomed the quiet as she sat and read. Chopper and Usopp were laying on the grassy deck as they watched Zoro training, with weights at least 10 times his size. Nami lay on a deck-chair under her orange trees as Sanji served her cool drinks, while ignoring Luffy’s pleas for meat. Brook was somewhere below deck, but the rest of the crew could hear his music drifting up between the floorboards. A prisoner Nami was insisting they would turn in for a bounty was locked up below deck, where Brook could keep an eye on him… except, he doesn’t have eyes (yohohohohoho). Frankie sat by the ships reel murmuring happily to himself.

It was a quieter day than usual. It had been four days since they had embarked from Fishman Island, and the crew (plus one), had practically recovered. They were half a week away from the closest island. Some of the crew, including Robin, Nami and Sanji, welcomed the pleasant change in scenery. While others, Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper, were bored out of their minds.

“I’m booooooooored….” Luffy sighed with the greatest amount of volume he could muster.

He looked up to the sky, “I wish something exciting would happen.” He murmured at an equal volume.

That was when he saw the shape, it began as a small black dot but was growing at a tremendous speed.

“Eh? What’s that?!?” Luffy yelled as the rest of the crew followed his line of vision upwards.

With a sickening cracking sound the object smashed into the ship, making a small crater in the ship’s deck. It took a moment to realise the object was a person.

  A Person had fallen from the sky… onto their ship.

He looked young, like a young teenager, and his hair was a raven colour, and spiked upwards like the tip of a candle. His face was difficult to make out. His body was covered in wounds, giving him the appearance of a corpse.

“CHOPPER!” Luffy called out to the little reindeer, who stood directly next to him.

“OH NO!! He’s injured!” Chopper cried out, “We need a doctor!”

“That’s you…”

“Oh, right. Don’t touch him yet, I need to check for spinal damage.” Chopper announced, before approaching the child.

“What happened?!?” Frankie asked as he joined the other crew members.

The crew was silent for a moment before Luffy spoke, “Well, this dude fell from the sky… maybe… he’s a bird!” Ussop nodded his head in agreement.

“He’s not a bird.” Nami sighed, “But a fall from that kind of height is enough to kill anyone.”

“Ah! He hasn’t got a heart-beat!” Chopper cried, as he began pumping on the child’s chest, attempting to restart the heart.

The boy moaned and his eyes flickered open momentarily, “Hnn…”

“Can you hear me?” Chopper asked, looking for a sign of response, “What’s your name?”

The boy’s head tipped slightly, “… Hi… ei…” His eyes closed and his body became limp again.

The group watched in silence as Chopper transformed into his heavy point form and carried the child into the infirmary. They all then gathered on the ship’s deck, where Frankie had already began repairing the bent floor.

Chopper looked more than slightly distressed after he re-joined them. “He’s breathing now… but his heart isn’t beating.”

“How is that possible?” Robin raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe he’s a cyborg?” Ussop proposed but Chopper shook his head, “No, I found no traces of metal…” He petered off lost in thought.

“Did you find anything to suggest where he came from?” Nami asked, “Like valuables?”

“Well… He could be part fishman… but I’m not sure…” Chopper murmured. “He has three eyes.”

“EEEEHHHHHHHHH!!???!!” Luffy, Usopp and Brook (who was listening in from below deck) exclaimed.

“I’ve never heard of an aquatic creature with three eyes,” Robin spoke up from the back, “Sometimes four, but never three. An odd number of eyes is logically a flaw as it would mess with vision.”

“Un, that’s what I thought.” Chopper agreed, “I treated most of his wounds, they all seemed to be lacerations. One of his arms is covered by a tattoo, so he may be older than we think. And… there were some older scars…” Chopper shivered slightly, “Seriously, there were so many I was surprised he was still in one piece.” (Luffy snickered, “one piece.”)

Robin smiled reassuringly, “Well, he’ll be fine with a doctor like you on hand.”

Chopper covered his face and jiggled his hips, “You think saying that will make me happy? Jerk~”

The crew silently thought together, (excluding an absent Brook) ‘you look pretty happy.’

Chopper smiled and turned, “I’m gonna keep an eye on him, I’ll call you guys when he wakes up.”

“Wait,” Luffy called entirely too loudly, “Did you get his name?

“Sort of, but it was mumbled,” Chopper replied on his way in, “It was something like Hee-aye.”

* * *

 

Chopper swivelled slightly in his chair, it had been about five hours since the injured boy had fallen onto their ship. He’d had a deep stab-like wound in his stomach and several long slices on his limbs. Chopper had stopped the bleeding and treated those as soon as he’d brought the boy in, before rechecking for any ruptured organs of shattered bones. He had been surprised that the child had none of the said afflictions, especially since the fall had been from high enough to leave a crater in the grassy deck of the ship.

The little reindeer had removed some strange chunks of metal from some of the wounds, and taken a strange stone from around the boy’s neck and placed it on the table. It was such a pretty colour, an icy blue, it was probably important to the boy.

Chopper was about to get up again when he heard a light moan. The boy’s eyes had flickered open and upon closer inspection they seemed to be a deep crimson.

“Take it easy, you’ll reopen you’re wounds.” Chopper said gently. He stood a distance away in his smallest form, as not to scare the boy, he knew he didn’t exactly look normal.

But to his surprise the boy’s eyes narrowed and he seemed to disappear. Before Chopper could cry out he felt the tip of something metal on his neck and felt a slight warmth behind his back.

“Who are you? What is this place?” The voice was cold and sent shivers down Chopper’s spine.

“ah…”

“Don’t try to call out. I could slit your throat and be gone before anyone would even hear.”

Chopper swallowed, “M… My name is Tony Tony Chopper, and this is the Thousand Sunny… a ship.”

There was silence for a moment, “So this is the Ningenkai… how did I get here?”

“Um… you fell onto our ship… a few hours ago… badly wounded.” Chopper wanted to transform to his heavy point to maybe surprise his opponent but he knew the blade was too close to his neck.

There was a sudden groan and the blade fell away, there was a dull thump behind him. He turned slowly. The child was leaning against the wall, bleeding slightly through the bandages over his diaphragm, giving Chopper the most murderous death glare imaginable.

“Umm… please don’t move too much, you’ll reopen your wounds…” The doctor said quietly, considering calling out to another crew member. The boy said nothing.

The three eyed child was motionless for a while before suddenly jerking, looking around slightly desperately.

“A…are you looking for that?” Chopper motioned to the gem on the table and the child let out an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief, before glaring at the little reindeer again. He picked up the jewel and placed it in his pocket.

“W… would you mind if I told the other crew members you’re awake, Mr… He aye?” Chopper asked, ready to yell if threatened, this boy was obviously strong.

“My name is Hiei.” The boy muttered, obviously assuming they would have known, “And it matters not, I’ll be leaving soon.”

“But we won’t reach an island for the next three days…” Chopper cocked his head to one side.

Before he could even finish speaking the door crashed open, “I HEARD VOICES!!”

Chopper sighed, what else had he expected from their captain. “Luffy please be quieter.”

Luffy grinned and walked over to Hiei, who glared suspiciously, but surprisingly didn’t attack.

“What’s your name? Are you a bird? Can you fight? Wanna join ma crew?” Luffy exclaimed and Hiei winced slightly at the volume of his voice.

“Hiei. No. Yes. Hell no.” He replied without blinking an eye.

Luffy pouted slightly, but regained his signature grin in seconds, “Do you really have three eyes?”

Hiei’s face became confused and he reached to his forehead, cursing when he realised his headband was missing. He looked back to Luffy, “Yes. Now what is your name?”

“EEEHHH?” Chopper, and a voice from outside, exclaimed, “you don’t know who he is?!?”

Hiei raised an eyebrow, “I don’t usually go to the effort of memorising human’s names or faces.”

“My name is Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m going to be King of the Pirates!!”

“Good for you.” Hiei said in monotone.

Chopper suddenly spoke as if he’d been holding back, “Um, Are-you-aware-your-heart-isn’t-beating?”

For the first time the red eyes boy looked genuinely shocked, “But don’t you… oh…” His eyes narrowed, “You’re not a demon, are you?”

“What?!? A demon!!” Chopper gasped and Hiei groaned.

“I was under the impression that Ningen animals couldn’t talk.” Hiei pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You keep saying that, human, human, what are you then?” Chopper asked.

Hiei smirked, he loved this bit, “I don’t have a heartbeat, so don’t even begin to confuse me with a mortal.” He paused momentarily, “I am a demon.”

“EEEEEHHHHHH?!?!?!” Multiple voices yelled at the same time and Hiei realised there was probably a few people eaves-dropping from outside.

“But there’s no such thing as demons!!!” A girl with orange hair peeked in through the door and Hiei’s suspicions were confirmed.

Hiei sighed again, “Believe what you like, I don’t care.”

“Wow… rude.”

Hiei ignored her, “I’m assuming by that reaction that none of you know of demons…”

Luffy’s eyes went wide, “Do they poop?”

“God-damn it, Koenma’s going to be a bitch about this isn’t he.” Hiei muttered before turning back to the window and opening it.

“Um, Mr Hiei, you’re bleeding…” Chopper began as Hiei placed a foot upon the ledge and leaned forward. “Wait what are you…” Before they could react the three-eyed-demon leaped through the opening.

“EEEEHHHHH!!!!” Chopper, and Nami yelled together as they watched Luffy jump out after him.

They heard him yell, “Hang on little guy!”

Followed promptly by a gruff yell of “God-damn it Luffy!!” from the deck above and a green flash passed the window.

Nami and Chopper said nothing, they just walked up to the deck.

* * *

 

Roranoa Zoro pulled the two boys onto the ship. Luffy looked surprisingly serious while the other was glaring with noticeable killing intent.

“Why’d ya jump?” Luffy asked blatantly.

“There’s somewhere I need to be.” Hiei growled, obviously annoyed that he’d been grabbed.

“What, you were planning on swimming there?” Zoro growled with equal annoyance, mostly towards his captain.

“No, I was planning on running, then swimming, depending on the distance.” Hiei said simply.

Zoro raised an eyebrow, “You can run on water kid?”

Hiei twitched, “Firstly, yes, I can for small distances. Secondly, I am older than you, so refrain from associating me as a child.”

Luffy gasped, “Older than Zoro! You must be ancient!”

“I’m not that old Luffy.” Zoro turned to Hiei, “How would you know my age? You don’t look that old.”

Hiei shrugged, “I’m simply assuming, I don’t really keep count of my own age anymore, but I’m around half a millennia.”

Luffy stared blankly, and Hiei sighed again “Around five hundred years.”

“EEEEHHHH!!!!” Hiei turned and saw the Orange haired girl, the deer, and several other people.

Luffy gasped, “Ah! I forgot to introduce you to our crew!” He grabbed Hiei’s hand and pulled him along, Hiei said nothing, he was too tired to argue anymore, but he still gave Luffy a glare that could melt ice.

They went to the ginger girl first, “This is Nami! She’s the navigator!”

“We met earlier.” Nami waved a hand slightly, Hiei was about to say something about not caring but he was dragged off by Luffy before he could make a sound.

He was pulled in front of a thin boy with an unbelievably long nose, “This is Usopp, the Sniper!!”  
The boy quivered slightly, “So you’re… a demon?

“Yes. What of it?” Hiei glared slightly and smirked as the lanky boy cowered away. Then he was off again.

This time it was a group of three people, a girl with long black hair, an extremely tall man with metal arms and a blue pompadour (god-damn it, Kuwabara disease) and the green haired man with three swords.

“This is Robin, the… history person. Frankie, the carpenter and Zoro, the first mate!”

The woman spoke first, “May I ask if all demons are similar to you or if there’s different species and types?”

Hiei raised an eyebrow slightly, “No, there are demon clan of the same kind but most demons are individually different. I myself am a Fire Demon.”

“Ehhh! A fire demon?” Frankie and Luffy yelled simultaneously. Hiei sighed and summoned the mortal flame into his fist, a petty display of his abilities. But Luffy seemed impressed.

“So is there a clan of flame demons you belong to?” Robin asked and Hiei stiffened slightly, not enough for any normal person to notice but enough for Robin and Zoro.

“No. There are other demons with fire-like ability but there is no clan.” Hiei said curtly as Luffy grabbed him again and whisked him away with a shout of ‘kitchen!’

They went to a large room below deck where a blond man in a suit was preparing some kind of fish.

“Oi, Luffy.” He said as Luffy entered, “It’s not Dinner time yet.”

“Pfft, Sanji, did you think I just came here for food.” Luffy’s lips formed into a shape similar to a 3.

“What really?!? You’re not here to bicker for meat?” the blond raised a curled eyebrow.

“No, I’m showing the new guy around. Sanji meet Hiei, Hiei meet Sanji. Sanji is the chef!”

“Fantastic.” Hiei said in monotone.

Sanji was silent for a moment as he looked Hiei up and down, “You seem to be healing well.” He stated.

“I heal faster than mortals.” Hiei drawled. And Sanji’s eyes widened.

“Wait you aren’t human?” Sanji asked and Hiei sighed, this was getting annoying.

“Nope, He’s a demon.” Luffy answered for Hiei.

“Oh, okay.” Sanji said simply as he turned back to a pot on the stove. At least his reaction wasn’t too bad. Hiei could stand this guy.

“OKAY! Let’s go see Brook!”

Hiei said nothing as he followed Luffy (not out of choice) even further below deck. He was slightly surprised by the height of the figure in front of him. The skeleton stood still. Hiei watched him for a few seconds before turning back to Luffy, “You sure this one’s not a demon?”

“AH! A demon!” The skeleton cried in fear of the unknown.

“Hn, I was unaware ningens could survive being defleshed.” Hiei murmured, mostly to himself.

“Well, no, but Brook ate the Yomi Yomi fruit!” Luffy explained with a prided expression.

“A… fruit…” Hiei looked at the both of them disbelievingly.

“Yeah, a devil fruit! Ya know, the ones that give the eater power in return for their ability to swim.”

“Can’t say I’ve heard of such a thing.” Hiei shrugged, “Then again I haven’t been in the Ningenkai in a while.”

“Where were you before?” Brook asked and Hiei gave him a threatening glare,

“That’s not something you need to know.”

“Uwah, your glare gives me goose-bumps… although I don’t have skin! Skull Joke, yohohohoho!”

Hiei groaned, oh god, these people were worse than Kuwabara. He would have killed them already if he wasn’t trying to stay under Koenma’s radar.

“AANNDDD, this guy in the cage is… I don’t know… but the fishmen told us to take him away, to the marines or whatever, he’s a bad guy!” Luffy announced and Hiei leaned forward to see the figure through the bars.

It was a man with combed blond hair and a suit. His goatee seemed to defy gravity. God-damn Ningens and their inconsistent anatomy.

“Hey, I’ll give you anything if you free me.” He whispered through the cage, “I have connections, money, whatever you want!”

Hiei’s eyes narrowed, “You remind me of someone I used to know.”

The man’s eyes lit up in the possibility of being recognised, he was from a noble family and had been trying to make a living trafficking Fishmen as slaves.

“Unfortunately for you, I despised that person with the most hatred imaginable.” Hiei turned from the cage. Luffy, who had seen the whole thing, smiled, “Shishishishi. I think that’s everyone, let’s go back to the deck!”

Hiei groaned, of course they couldn’t stay still for more than a minute.

He was led above deck again, where the ginger woman(Hiei had mentally forced himself to forget her name) was asking him about a ‘necklace’. Hiei completely ignored her.

A loud call sounded above them, Hiei recognised it as the voice of the long-nosed idiot.

“Marine war ships! They’re on all sides!!”


	2. Fight the police little Demon!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Onepiece.

“Marine war ships! They’re on all sides!!”

Hiei raised an eyebrow, “marines?”

Luffy, who was about to jump into some sort of action, looked back to Hiei, “Yeah, marines, the world police, the guys who try to catch pirates, ya know, those guys?”

Hiei sighed. The crew was a swarm on the deck around him, preparing for the battle.

Hiei reached to his waist and swore, he’d thought something was missing. He stopped Chopper who was about to run past him, “Was there a sword with me when I… fell?”

“Hrm…” Chopper thought for a moment, “No, I didn’t see one.”

“You’re a swordsman?” The green-haired man suddenly appeared next to Hiei.

“Yes, but obviously my sword didn’t fall with me.”

“So, are you gonna stay on the ship?”

Hiei almost laughed, “Hell no, I really need to hit something right now. I’ll give your crew some assistance.”

Usopp’s voice rang out from the crows nest again, “Bad news! Smoker’s with them!!”

“EEEHH!!!” Nami yelled, “Is there any way we can go around them?”

“No, they’ve boxed us in, it’s like they knew we would come this way!”

“So… we just have to beat him!” Luffy announced, and then performed one of the strangest feats Hiei had ever seen a human perform. His hand stretched out, like elastic, onto the closest marine ship and he was catapulted over. Goddamn humans and their inconsistent anatomy. Hiei would have to keep an eye on him.

One of the other ships drew closer to theirs, and the swordsman and the Chef quickly jumped over. The rest of the crew began to take action.

Hiei counted eight boats in total with maybe a hundred people on each boat, not really a problem. He opened his Jagan, searching, for something. He closed it and smirked, time for violence. He ignored the protests of the few people standing near him and jumped off the edge of the boat. Then he ran. To him it was rather simple, just step on the water quickly so you don’t break the surface and begin to sink, simple.

He kicked off the side of one of the white and blue ships, using the momentum to practically fly onto another ship. A simple manoeuvre. In fact he did it so smoothly that the marines didn’t actually notice he was there immediately.

“What?!? Where did he come from?” Annoying bystander A (As Hiei mentally dubbed him) shouted and alerted the other’s to his presence. Hiei didn’t mind, he really needed to hit something.

To the marines he seemed to teleport, to Hiei he was walking. God they were weaklings. He wouldn’t kill them. If he killed them then Koenma would definitely hear about it. And he didn’t want to be under that toddler’s thumb again.

He found what he was looking for, at the waist of a marine woman with short black hair and glasses. A sword. It was probably the best quality he was going to find on these human ships. Damn he missed his old one. It was the perfect size and weight, but then again it’s not like it held any sort of sentimental value, it was simply a weapon for slicing.

He picked up his pace a bit, it’s not like annoying bystanders A though to M could even follow his movements anyway, but he wanted to make this quick.

He slid the sword neatly from the woman’s belt with the sheath attached, despite being compared with Kurama Hiei was a damn good pick-pocket when he wanted to be.

It was a nice sword, a bit excessive by his standards but it would do until he could obtain (steal) another. It had a green hilt with four curves on the hand guard. The blade itself seemed rather durable. The sheath was white with green notches.

The woman didn’t notice at first until she saw him next to her. She reached to her waist and gasped, realising what had transpired.

Hiei smirked as she howled curses, she was like many swordsmen he knew, unable to fight properly without a weapon. That was when he began hitting.

He slashed through the crowd of marines, consciously using the back of his newfound blade as not to kill them, just break a few bones and paralyse.

“God damn it! Stop running and fight me!” the woman yelled and made chase, but was no match to his superior speed, he enjoyed taunting her by slowing down and then disappearing from her vision all together. 

He stood at the highest point on the ship, at the tip of the mast. He’d taken out maybe 50% of the men already. He heard that woman ordering the men below to find him. He looked over at the other boats, of course he could see them clearly due to his Jagan eye, even though he’d brushed some of his bangs lower over it to make it less noticeable.

He frowned slightly as he saw a trail of smoke spreading across the ship. Looking over he was surprise to see a large man standing next to the woman he’d stolen the sword from. The man was well-built, and smoking several cigars at once. He wore a more expensive coat and seemed to be scolding the woman, so he was probably of a higher rank.

Hiei smirked, and jumped, he still didn’t like the sensation of falling but he was used to it. He slammed into the deck physically cracking the floorboards.

“Who are you? Are you with the straw-hats?!” the smoking man yelled and Hiei smirked,

“Don’t associate me with those fools. As to my name, well that’s not something you need to know.”

The larger man pulled a staff-like object from his back. It was a Jitte, with a strangely discoloured tip. Hiei thought nothing of it, but decided to step up his game a little. This guy was obviously stronger than the other humans he’d faced thus far.

The taller man, (Possible challenge no. 1, as Hiei had dubbed him) made the first move, he was fast, but not fast enough. Hiei brought the back of the blade up, but to his surprise it seemed to go through him as he turned into… ironically, smoke.

Hiei jumped backwards, putting distance between them. God Damn humans and their inconsistent anatomy, since when could they do that?

Hiei sheathed the sword. It would be no use to him if he couldn’t cut this man. He summoned the mortal flame into his hand.

“What!?!? Are you the new bearer of the Mera-Mera no mi?” Possible Challenge No. 1 exclaimed.

“Again with the devil fruits,” Hiei sighed, “Believe what you wish, I don’t need to get high off magic plants to be strong.” He smirked as No. 1 growled.

This time Hiei struck first. He kept low to the ground and leapt towards No. 1, who brought up his Jitte to block whatever attack the small male may throw at him but to his surprise the boy flew right past him.

Hiei turned as he flew, kicking of the wall directly behind no. 1 and punching a flaming fist into his back. To his surprise, and the surprise of no. 1, the attack made contact and no. 1 was thrown forward.

“Damn it, he can use Haki!” No. 1 cursed.

Hiei frowned, “The fuck is Haki?” he thought aloud, he’d have to ask/threaten, someone about it later.

“You don’t know what Haki is?!” The taller man asked, confused by the young man’s display of unknown talent.

“Hn.” Hiei simply growled, at least he now knew he could hit this guy. He usually wasn’t very fond of hand to hand combat, but he did like the rush it gave him.

No. 1 threw a punch, Hiei was about to dodge it when the hand turned into smoke and surrounded him.

It was thick, thicker than usual smoke and it lifted him from the ground. Hiei refused to give his opponent the satisfaction of seeing him panic. He increased his Youki,(Demon ki, demon energy,) and moved the mortal flame from his fist to the rest of his body, increasing the heat as it spread. The smoke around him was forced away as the air around him burned and increased in temperature. (Science)

Smoker was slightly taken aback, _‘who the hell is this guy?’_

Hiei fell back onto his feet, smirking slightly, oh how he was enjoying this.

He dropped to the floor, sweeping one leg around, his body still alight on the mortal flame. He kicked no. 1’s legs out from underneath him. No. 1 may have had raw physical power and technique, but Hiei had unmatchable speed.

He used the fraction of time it took to for no. 1 to get to his feet to make more room in between them.

As no. 1 swung his jitte Hiei decided he was bored, and ducked down low and swung a leg around. The side of his leg smashing into the man’s head, sending him flying into a wall, where he stayed, stunned.

Hiei sighed, extinguishing the flames that covered his body. He was glad that his pants and shirt, the only real article of clothing he had, were brought specially for their resistance to fire. The bandages that had covered his chest had burned though. It didn’t really matter though, thanks to his Korime blood he had already almost completely healed. He’d have to stay aware though, he didn’t want to reopen the stab-like wound on his stomach.

He vaguely heard the Woman from before yelling out. She had taken a sword from one of the marines and was preparing to attack him.

He pulled out the blade he had stolen from her and smirked as she snarled. She brought her blade around low, and Hiei was surprised, maybe she did possess some talent, but it wouldn’t be enough.

He parried her swipe and, after turning the blade away, hit her 10 times in the span of a single second. He could do more, but he didn’t believe in overkill. He also didn’t believe in going easy on someone purely because of their gender.

She fell and he turned to the remaining marines, who looked a like they were about to s*** themselves.

“He’s a monster!” one man yelled from the back.

Hiei smiled, an evil sadistic smirk, “Oh no, I’m so much worse.”

“SMOKER!!!” Hiei jumped slightly as Luffy catapulted himself over the side of the ship.

“Oh, hey He-Hay!” He greeted Hiei.

“It’s Hiei.” He muttered, “This ships done, how are the others?”

“What do you mean, this is Smo- Holy crap, did you just kill everyone!?!”

Hiei sighed, “No I used the back of the blade, idiot, they’re only unconscious.”

Luffy looked over the deck, at all the ‘sleeping’ people. His eyes stopped on Smoker, “You defeated Smoker too!?!”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“It’s the guy who’s half way through the wall.”

“Oh, Possible Challenge no. 1, yeah he was pretty strong but too slow.” Hiei shrugged.

Luffy looked confused, “So you used Haki to hit him?”

Hiei frowned, “the fuck is Haki?”

“You don’t know what Haki is?!?”

“I’ve already had this conversation.” Hiei sighed, sheaving his new sword.

Luffy pouted, “Oooohh, I wanted to fight Smoker…”

“Well then you should go faster next time, first come, first serve.” Hiei replied curtly.

“Okay, let’s go back to the ship!” Luffy grabbed Hiei with one hand and the other flew off towards the Sunny.

“Wait, wha~” Hiei was cut off as the two of them were suddenly flying through the air, “FUUUCCKK!!!”

They landed on the ship and Hiei was quick to regain his composure, after giving Luffy a glare so murderous it scared Usopp and Chopper from the other side of the ship.

Zoro approached him and looked at the sword, “That’s Shigure…”

“Oh, the sword has a name, cute.” Hiei drawled.

“That sword belongs to captain Tashigi…”

“Oh, the woman has a name too, what are the odds.”

“Did you loot a captain’s sword?”

“Seems like it.”

Luffy laughed, “Not just that, he defeated everyone on the G-5 ship!”

“What really?” Zoro raised an eyebrow, he hadn’t expected the shorty to be that strong.

“It’s not like there was really any challenge, except for the Smoke guy…” Hiei murmured.

“You defeated Smoker? How?” The dark haired woman walked up on his other side.

Hiei shrugged, “Well, the sword was useless, so I just hit him a whole bunch of times. He was physically pretty impressive, and his reflexes were also okay, but he lacked speed.”

“But how did you hit him? He turns to smoke…” Robin raised an eyebrow.

“Hn. He said something about Haki… I just used my mortal flame.” Hiei lit his hand alight in example.

“You don’t know what Haki is?”

Hiei shrugged again, “No, but I’m guessing it’s similar to Ki.”

“Ki?”

“What? You people know about random magic plants but the idea of Ki eludes you?” Hiei sighed, “Well, Ki is basically spiritual power. Humans with high Rei-Ki can visualise demons who aren’t in human form as well as locate other’s with strong Ki. Humans with extremely high Ki can even use it in combat. As a demon I possess Youki, which is pretty similar except it’s demonic, and more powerful than that of an average human.” Hiei finished his explanation, realising that was probably the most words he’d ever used in a conversation.

Robin nodded, it seemed like she was the only one who had understood what he’d said.

She began an explanation of her own, “That sounds kind of similar to Haki. But instead of demon and spirit energy it’s more like a manifestation of ones willpower. There is three kinds of Haki, the first granting the user spiritual awareness is called Kenbunshoku Haki. The second is called Busoshoku Haki, which allows the user to materialise their willpower into an armour-like substance around the body, it can also strengthen any physical attacks. The third, and the rarest kind is Haoshoku Haki, which can overpower other’s wills. Only one in a million people have this ability.”

Hiei was silent for a moment as he let the new information sink in. It made sense, the first kind of Haki sounded like average spiritual awareness, the second was sort of like what Yusuke and the idiot did, by solidifying their spirits into weapons. The third was kind of like the killing intent a powerful Ki user let of that would incapacitate weaker users. It made sense.

He nodded vaguely. The humans had really changed since he’d last been here. It must have been only two years in human time, yet the average mortal had even advanced to recognition of Ki.

He felt something in the back of his mind. Biting away at his concentration, but when he tried to think of it, it skirted away. How annoying.

“SANJI!!! I’m hungry!!” Luffy yelled and Hiei winced slightly again, sometime he didn’t appreciate his heightened hearing.

“Wait just a… Okay, it’s done!” A voice yelled from the kitchen, Hiei recognised it as the blond with the much welcomed lack of interest.

“C’mon He-Hay! It’s dinner time!!”

“It’s Hiei.” Hiei muttered as he was dragged below deck. Damn it, his temper was back already.

The ritual humans called ‘Dinner’ was Chaos. Hiei sat at the edge of the room, watching the mayhem. Luffy would steal food from the others, Zoro would defend his own plate and the blond, Shinji or something(Hiei hadn’t bothered to memorise his name), would defend the females.

“~Ay, E-Ay~ U gor et?” Luffy yelled with his mouth open and Hiei simply looked at him.

“Was that even language?”

Luffy swallowed the obscene amount of food and spoke again, “I said, are you gonna eat?”

Hiei shook his head, “I ate yesterday, so I’ll be fine for a few more days.”

“EEEHHH!?!?!?” the majority of the crew yelled and Hiei was tempted to pierce his own eardrums, or their vocal chords, either or.

“What?!?” He shrugged angrily, this is why he never ate with the Renkai Tentai.

“But… you’ve missed so many meals!” Luffy looked like he was half way between horror and tears.

Hiei sighed, “In the… place… I grew up food wasn’t really a privilege everyone had. You’d probably only get two meals a week… tops. It really depended on your strength. It was kill or be killed, so most demons from those areas don’t really go on to eat much. It’s not that weird.”

Hiei mentally face palmed as he saw Luffy, Long-nose, the robot and the reindeer were crying, “That’s so saaaaddd!!!”

“Don’t pity me.” He almost snarled but kept his voice level, “it was necessary.”

There was silence for a few moments as the four of them continued eating, while watching him with sad eyes. He noticed that the blond was looking at him differently, as another who understood the pain of starving.

Nami broke the silence, “Oh! I just realised, Hiei where are you planning on going?”

Hiei was silent for a moment and everyone could see his sudden realising expression, “Shit.” He bit his lip, thinking, “Um… well… I… fuck.”

Nami raised an eyebrow, “Do you have nowhere to go?”

“Well, no, I just…” He sighed, “Yeah, I know nothing about human world geometry. I was planning on trying to find a way back to where I was before this… by following the biggest mass of Rei-Ki I could sense… but that’s kinda screwed up now.”

“Where did you come from?” Luffy asked, realising none of them had even asked Hiei what made him fall onto their ship in the first place.

Hiei frowned slightly, “I shouldn’t tell you that. On the odd chance that _he_ finds me it’ll only make my crimes worse if he finds out I was giving that kind of information to humans.”

“He?”

“Can’t tell you that either.” Hiei said stubbornly, angering Nami.

“Well where were you planning to go? Do you know any land marks or anything?”

“There’s no way any of you would know about…” Hiei thought for a moment, “Actually… never mind. I actually have no real need to return there.” He murmured, mostly to himself, “Well I was planning on checking on something.” He said vaguely, “Do you know anything about a largish land mass, with many human cities with shining lights and a smoke filled sky?”

Nami thought momentarily, “No… I only know of some small islands with big cities… and none of them really have smog. Why were you planning on going there?”

Hiei’s face darkened, “That’s not something you need to know.” He said coldly.

Sanji stood, “There’s no need to speak to Nami-swan that way, she’s just trying to help!” But strangely enough he was held back by… Brook of all people. The skeleton gave him a small shake of the head and Sanji growled but sat back down. Hiei didn’t even give him a glance.

Luffy broke the silence this time, “So He-Hay(“Hiei.”), how… did you fall from the sky onto our ship?”

Hiei actually looked the most shocked, it was if he hadn’t actually thought about it.

“Well… I’m not actually quite sure… Oh, I remember I was fighting this guy… I think I was drugged or something because I can barely remember it… Hn… I remember pain… and falling.” He winced slightly as he said the word falling, not enough for anyone with an ordinary attention span but enough for Zoro, Robin, Sanji, Nami and surprisingly Brook to notice.

“But…” Hiei continued, “when I was fighting I was nowhere near any ocean, especially not this one.” Hiei shook his head as if to clear it, but it felt fuzzy, god he was tired.

“That’s sad.” Luffy said bluntly and Hiei glared, “Ah well. Zoro, you’re on watch tonight right?”

Zoro nodded vaguely from the other side of the room, A bottle of alcohol seemed to have appeared in his hand. Luffy continued, “We have an extra bed in the men’s room if you want ta sleep He-Hay!”(“Hiei.”)

Hiei sighed, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll probably just stay up on deck.”

“M’kay then.” Every one departed from the table to their respective areas. Hiei headed up to the deck, followed by Zoro who sat down on the deck.

Hiei crouched and jumped, careful that he wasn’t being watched by Zoro. The jump was higher than that of a human and he landed on top of the smaller back mast. He wasn’t heavy enough to damage it but it seemed to be reinforced anyway. He leant against the side of the mast, it was okay, but he would have preferred a tree, but the orange trees below him were too small anyway.

He sighed, and slipped into a much needed sleep.

* * *

 

Brook gathered the Straw-hat crew (minus Zoro) in the men’s room, to discuss what to do with the young demon on the deck.

“I think some of you will have realised how many questions Mr Hiei’s story has raised.” He began, with uncharacteristic seriousness.

Robin, Sanji, Nami and Chopper nodded, while Ussop and Luffy looked clueless.

Robin started, “He speaks of trying to stay hidden from someone, meaning either he’s done something or he’s afraid.”

Sanji continued, “He said he came from a kill or be killed place where survival was the only dream one can have.”

“And he also knows nothing about the world, not even the names of places, meaning either he’s been confined somewhere for a long time or he’s from a different… world… entirely.” Nami added.

“And the huge amount of scar tissue covering his body… and his casualness of the concept of death…” Chopper shivered.

Nami spoke again, “He also said he had no reason to return to where he came from.”

Brook finished with a solemn note, “I know the look of loneliness, the look of guilt, the look of sheer coldness… I’ve never seen anyone who looked more lonely, guilty or untrusting than him. He has nowhere to go. The only thing he spoke about with actual conviction is whatever he wanted to ‘check on.’”

Usopp and Luffy nodded as if beginning to understand. 

Hiei was alone. Hiei had nowhere to go, nothing to do. Hiei had no purpose. Hiei was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay, thanks. Bye.


	3. Do Some Shopping Little Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new day, a new energy drain and a new headache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updates, on the plus side, many chapters have been drafted. So many. Wow.

Hiei awoke to an ear shattering yell. It took him a moment to realise where he was. He looked up at the blue sky in confusion, before remembering the events of the past day. He sighed, god, this was all so confusing. He still had that thought drilling away at the back of his mind, and he still couldn’t quite reach it. He looked down at the deck far below him. He could see a straw hat bobbing over the floor of grass calling out a mutilated version of his name.  
“He-Hay!!!! Where are you?”   
Hiei contemplated going down, but he didn’t feel like it. He would wait a few more minutes. If anyone asked he’d just say he was a heavy sleeper. He closed his natural eyes, but kept his Jagan open, using it to remotely view everything in his range, looking for any sort of landmass that he recognised. Unfortunately he found no sign of the larger land mass where the Renkai Tentai had once been located.   
He did, however, see a small island up ahead. It had a small city with maybe 200 people. He could see ships around it, ships of blue and white. The thing clawing at the back of his mind grew, but he still couldn’t reach it.  
The mast shook and Hiei opened one of his eyes half way, he saw a hand on the side of the mast next to him, and mentally swore as he realised what was about to happen.   
Luffy propelled onto the mast next to him, a well-practiced looking manoeuvre, which was probably why the masts were reinforced.  
“He-Hay!! What you doin up here!”   
Hiei mentally groaned, “I was sleeping Strawhat.”  
Luffy frowned, “But there’s a bed downstairs?”  
Hiei shrugged, “I don’t like beds.” He trailed off and pushed himself into a standing position. Dropping down onto the deck. It may have been 20 metres, but he landed softly on his feet, without any damage to himself or the ship. He didn’t particularly like the sensation of falling, but he was used to it.  
Luffy dropped down next to him, without an ounce of grace or care.   
“That reminds me,” Hiei began, “Are you made of elastic or something?”  
Luffy’s eye widened, “Nope, I’m a Rubber man!” He stretched the corner of his mouth about 30 cm.  
“Hn.” Hiei vaguely acknowledged Luffy. Damn humans and their inconsistent anatomy.   
“It’s breakfast time, you gonna eat today?”  
“No, I’m fine.”  
“Okay then.” Luffy let Hiei off without any overly large emotional garbage. Hiei was sort of weirded out by the young boys almost acceptable manner. But he thought nothing of it.  
He stayed on deck while the others went down to the kitchen. He looked out over the water. He had no problem with it, he could actually swim pretty well, but he missed the freedom of land, where one could run as they pleased.   
He used the few moments of silence while the others were downstairs to rest his eyes. He could have called it meditating but he knew it was napping. His Jagan remained open, hidden under his spiked bangs.   
What was he doing? Where was he going? Why did he continue?  
Hiei would never take his own life, he was too determined to survive. But he was beginning to wonder what he was going to do with the rest of his life. He wanted to check on her. But that was all. He had no goals. He wasn’t on probation anymore(Thank Enma). He knew she was staying with the idiot, and as much as he hated it, he knew she would be safe.  
He had worked for Makuro for a while, but had no real reason to return. He could go back to the demon world, where he was less likely to be found, but he didn’t really see the point. It wasn’t like he was afraid, but he didn’t really want to see any of the Renkai Tentai again. And he sure as hell never wanted to see that GOD-DAMN-TODDLER again!  
“Wow, that’s a lot of killing intent.” He heard a voice next to him and turned, slightly surprised. It was the skeleton, Brock or something. (Hiei really should try to remember their names, but he couldn’t be bothered.)  
“Hn? What do you want?” Hiei responded bluntly.  
“Nothing!” Brook said, startled, “I just wanted to talk.”  
Hiei rolled his eyes, “What’s there to talk about?”  
Brook was silent for a moment, “your cold indifference hurts my heart Mr Hiei, although, I don’t have a heart. Skull joke, Yohohohohohoho!!”  
Hiei mentally screamed, “Do not do that. Ever again.” His glare was the manifestation of pure hate and evil.  
Brook shuddered, “Ah! That look sends shivers down my spine, although, I don’t… wait… no… that one didn’t work.”  
Hiei groaned.  
Brook started again, “But on a serious note, Mr Hiei, can I just call you Hiei?”  
“Hn. Call me what you like, I honestly don’t care.”  
“Well Hiei, if you don’t have anywhere you’re heading you know you could always travel with us until you figure out what you’re doing.”  
Hiei was silent for a moment, “We’ll see.”  
“Just think about it, that’s all I ask.”  
Brook walked off, but no matter how he tried he couldn’t remove those cold eyes from his mind.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
“Hey, red-head navigator.” Hiei called to Nami as he approached her.  
“I have a name you know.” She scowled.  
He ignored her, “You should probably tell your crew to head to the east side of next island.”  
“What? Why?”  
“There are… say 30 marine ships each with around 80 men in front of the city and docks on the west side. The other side seems to be uninhabited wilderness though…”  
Nami’s eyes widened, “How do you…”  
“Let’s just say I have excellent vision.” Hiei said curtly, before walking back to his newly claimed spot on top of the ships second mast.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
They dropped anchor at the east side of the island. As Hiei had predicted it was well forested, without another human being in sight. It would only take an hour to cross to the city, where they could get supplies. Some of the crew, (The swordsman, and the sniper) headed into the forest to hunt for any form of fresh meat (Both willingly and not so much), while others (Straw-hat, the navigator, the Cook and the Doctor) would head to the village to ‘explore’ and restock. Hiei would go with them, to see if he recognised anything.   
The remaining crew members, (The skeleton, the robot and the dark haired woman) would stay with the ship. Or at least, that was the plan.   
The forest was thick, but pretty level. Hiei welcomed the sight of trees again, oh how he’d missed them. He jumped through the tree tops, a little way ahead of the other crew members so he didn’t have to listen to their babbling.   
They reached the city with relative ease, but it became clear how many marines there really was. Luckily for them, though, they seemed to all be at the docks, with the odd one patrolling through the streets. Their uniforms were pretty easy to recognise and easy to avoid. Sanji headed off towards the markets, Nami went window shopping and the captain went missing pretty much as soon as they arrived.  
The Doctor followed Hiei, likely just to keep an eye on him. Hiei didn’t really mind, the reindeer was preferable to the captain anyway.   
The first place he visited was a clothing store. He still had his pants, which were in perfect condition, but he could use a new gi, or coat.  
To his surprise he found quite a selection, and even one in black. It didn’t have the white trimming at the neck like his old one, but it would do. Moving at a speed to fast for the shopkeeper to see he vanished from the store. The doctor was waiting outside, but Hiei didn’t mind.  
In fact the two of them walked together, to the next place on Hiei’s list. A human fortune shop.  
“Eh? Why do you want to go there?” Chopper asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“I just need to pick something up.” Chopper remained outside again, he said the store frightened him.   
The store was old and smelled like moth balls. Hiei looked over the many items on display, everything from ‘good luck charms’, to curses. He quickly found what he was looking for, while ignoring the shopkeepers rants on item origin and prices.   
Anti-evil wards. Although most of them were likely fake, it was likely he could still find one that served the task.  
They were made to seal or repel bad luck. He hovered a hand over the talismans. The first three did absolutely nothing, but he could feel a small spark from the third. The old shopkeeper was still rambling but he had blocked her from his mind. He went to the last talisman. It didn’t look as ‘mystical’ as the others but he could smell it. It was old, maybe even 200 years in age. Lowering his hand he felt a sharp sting and smiled, this was the one.  
He turned to the shopkeeper, “I think your incense stock is on fire.” He murmured, and as the woman turned away he walked from the shop. Well, walked being a speed she couldn’t even begin to comprehend.   
Outside the shop, he turned the talisman over and wrapped it around his head, over his Jagan eye. He gritted his teeth a little as he felt his Youki being suppressed, but it was necessary. This way he could both save his energy, while keeping his power low enough not to be noticed. It also stopped people looking at his God-damn third eye. (As he used to say when Kuwabara was around, "Look at the Stupid guy, not my third eye.")  
“Huh? What’s that?” Chopper noticed the small difference in Hiei’s look as he walked over.  
“A seal, just to keep my extra energy in check.”  
“oh… Anyway you’ve gotta see this!” Luffy appeared practically out of nowhere and Hiei mentally groaned.  
“What?” He rolled his eyes slightly.  
Luffy pulled out a piece of paper, it took Hiei a moment to realise what it was. It had a picture, a childish drawing, and some words beneath it, “Evil Eye, 15,000,000 beli reward.”   
“Wow, they move quickly don’t they? You only showed up two days ago and ya already got a bounty!”  
The thing in the back of Hiei’s mind grew. Then it hit him.   
He looked around at the crowds through the city, ignoring the doctor and the captain’s questions and remarks. He looked up at the sky above him, and everything fell silent. Or at least that’s how it was for him.   
When he’d seen that blue sky for the first time, he’d assumed he’d just somehow ended up in the Ningenkai, but it was wrong. This wasn’t the human realm he knew.  
Among the crowd he did not see a single demon. Not even a small class E bug. He knew the Makai barrier had been removed. So why was it he hadn’t sensed a single ounce of Youki since he’d arrived? And then there was the paper the rubber-fool held. If someone had even mentioned three eyes in the human realm the Reikai would know, so why hadn’t anyone tried to approach him.   
This was not his Ningenkai.  
Monkey D. Luffy and Tony Tony Chopper watched the small flame demon as he looked up at the sky, with the strangest look in his eyes. It changed every few seconds, first it was confusion, then fear, then realisation, then a blank look they couldn’t quite describe.  
He didn’t speak, he didn’t answer their questions, he just looked at the sky.   
His thoughts were half way between fear and confusion, What if there was no way back?   
“He-Hay…”  
Did he really need to go back?  
“He-Hay.”  
What would happen to her? Would she be attacked in his absence like last time?  
“He-Hay!”  
What would happen to his sister?  
“He-Hay!!”  
Hiei was torn from his thoughts, he looked back at the captain with a confused expression.  
“What…?”  
“The marines are here, we gotta split!”  
His arm was grabbed from the side and he turned suddenly, looking straight into the eyes of a marine.  
Silence reigned for a few seconds before the marine spoke, in a highly falsetto voice.  
“Are you okay, little boy? Where are your parents?”   
Hiei didn’t remember hitting him, but he felt the satisfaction as the marine went flying down the street.   
“What the… It’s straw hat!!! And the strange guy from yesterday!” oh, look, Annoying Bystander A was back.  
Luffy grabbed Hiei and dragged him and Chopper down the street. It wasn’t like they couldn’t take these guys, but Nami had instructed them not to make a scene.  
Hiei sighed, and pushed all the unnecessary thoughts from his mind. There was about 20 marines in pursuit, and although Hiei could easily run ahead he didn’t want to leave the idiots here, he may need them later.  
He saw a flaming torch at the side of the path and reached out with his Youki, willing the flames to spread across the street, cutting off the marines.  
The trio continued running through the back alleys, until they were out of sight.  
“A… Are you okay Mr Hiei?” The reindeer asked, noticing Hiei’s blank expression.  
“Hn.” He murmured absentmindedly.  
A voice echoed through the ally, “What are you guys doing here?”  
It was the blond with the eyebrow, Shinji or whatever.  
He looked at Hiei strangely, “Did your Haki just disappear in the last half hour?”  
Hiei shook his head, “No.” He said simply, and was unlikely to explain any further.  
“Well, I’m finished picking up ingredients, where’s Nami-swan?”  
Luffy cocked his head, “I dunno… We haven’t seen her.”  
Sanji sighed, “Well how about we all meet up here in half an hour, and if you see Nami-swan let her know too.”  
Hiei’s said nothing but departed as the others did.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
He was alone now, and adoring the silence, oh how he’d missed it.  
He went to the final place on his list. A weapons store. As much as he preferred demon blacksmiths he had to admit that the humans could make a pretty fine blade with enough effort.  
He stopped as he entered the store, he hadn’t expected what he saw.   
It was that girl, the one he’d stolen the sword from. But she seemed not to notice him, she looked agitated as she flipped aggressively through a catalogue.   
He was glad he’d picked up that seal, it seemed she couldn’t sense his energy at all.  
He walked quietly through the store, the blade he’d stolen was hidden under his coat.   
The shop actually had a pretty good selection, but Hiei was disappointed by the style of the swords, they all seemed too exaggerated. There were swords with hand carved hilts and gemstones, swords with fancy hand guards and multi-coloured sheaves. What was wrong with simple? A sword wasn’t meant to be a thing of glory, as Hiei thought, it was a weapon to inflict harm.   
He had to pass at least 24 swords before he found it.  
It had an ebony hilt, with the texture of finely polished wood, yet it didn’t smell of fumes, meaning it was old, but durable. The blade itself was magnificent, it was a dark colour, made of pure, stained steel, with no cheap materials hidden in the centre. The blade must have taken over a decade to craft to perfection, yet it sat here in the back of the store.  
Hiei took it over to the counter, glancing at the marine captain who was engrossed in her catalogue.  
“I’d like to make a trade.” Hiei said simply, with a slight smirk. He pulled out the woman’s sword and set it on the counter.  
The shopkeepers eyes widened, “wow, that’s amazing craftsmanship, are you sure… I mean, yes, that should just cover your payment.” He sniffed.  
Hiei could have simply disappeared from the store, but this was his form of entertainment. The shopkeeper put the new sword on display right on the front desk, where its previous owner would evidently see it.  
“Oh, wait,” The shopkeeper said as Hiei was about to leave, “You’re new sword is named Kori no Namida*, just thought you’d want to know.”  
Hiei smirked, “How fitting.”  
He walked outside and waited a few moments until he heard the woman’s cry of outrage.   
He left before she could wrench open the shop door and see him. 

 

 

*Kori no Namida- directly translates to Ice Tear (using google translate, and purposely not the proper name for the ice maidens tears)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual disclaimer applies.  
> Thanks.


	4. Fight the Bounty Hunters Little Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violence, Flashbacks, etcetera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep forgetting this exists!!

Surprisingly enough, Hiei was the first one to see Nami, she was exiting a shop on the east side of town when he just happened to be jumping over the roof.  
He dropped down without a sound. Landing besides her and making her yelp with fright.   
“God-damn it! You scared the life out of me!”  
“Hn. The others are meeting in the third ally on the left from the markets in… say, two minutes.”  
“Okay then, let’s go together.” She’d been wanting to ask about the gem on his necklace, it looked like nothing she’d ever seen.   
“Hn.”  
“So… What’s up with the necklace?” She asked bluntly.  
Hiei looked slightly surprised, “It was from someone who could have been important to me.”  
“Could have been?” Nami echoed.  
“She passed away soon after I last saw her.” Hiei said curtly, signalling the end of the conversation.  
But Nami couldn’t be dissuaded that easily, “What kind of stone is it?”  
Hiei became slightly annoyed, “Not any type that a human would have access to.”  
They turned into the ally and, to Hiei’s surprise, the others were actually there on time.  
“Cool!” The captain grinned, “Everyone’s here, let’s go!” He charged off, leaving the others to helplessly follow.   
As usual.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
They didn’t expect what they had found when they reached the ship.   
The Sniper lay unconscious on the ground, bleeding slightly from the head. Frankie was struggling to stand and Brook was supporting Robin. Zoro was nowhere to be seen.   
The strangest part was the five people standing opposite to them. There was four men wearing matching uniforms of red and green, and one slightly skinnier man dressed in expensive fabrics and with a greasy brown hair.  
“Guys! What’ going on?” Luffy called as they approached.  
“They’re bounty hunters!” Robin responded, her voice was slightly strained, “The one who looks like the boss has a strange devil-fruit ability. He’s taking hostages.”  
The main man turned, “Oh, Straw Hat Luffy, glad you could join us.” He smirked, an evil, ugly expression that didn’t suit him at all.  
“What did you do to my crew?” Luffy bellowed.  
“Not much, you see, I, Gaza Temma, ate the Gaisho Gaisho No Mi**, and have the ability to make people relive their worst memories, from most recent to first, until you go insane. Which, is quite the painful experience, so why don’t you all just give up now.”  
Brook sighed, “He already gave that speech when we started fighting, he just repeats it every time someone new appears.”  
“Be quiet.” The man, Gaza, growled.  
“GOD-DAMN IT!!” A voice rang out and Zoro jumped out of the ocean, “Fight me like a fucking man!”  
“Oh, hi Zoro!” Luffy called.  
“Hey Luffy.” He replied casually.  
Gaza smiled triumphantly, “The past can be painful, especially when you have to feel everything all over again. Allow me to demonstrate,” He stretched a hand out towards the swordsman, “Gaisho Gaisho repeat!” a beam flew from his hand, striking Zoro before he could even begin to dodge.  
Zoro faltered, his eyes unfocused. He was still for a moment before straightening up, “Unfortunately for you, pain makes me stronger. I’m not afraid of the past.”  
“Wow, so cool!” Luffy and Chopper gasped in awe.   
“Ah…” Gaza frowned, “Bad example… but you saw what it did on the demon child earlier.”  
“Demon child?” Hiei echoed.  
“He’s talking about Robin-Chwan.” Sanji growled.  
“And,” Gaza continued, “If you force my hand I will have no choice to make your crewmates repeat until they go insane.” He laughed.  
“Like hell!” Luffy yelled as he drew an arm back and fired it towards the greasy haired man. Unfortunately one of the surrounding men took the blow and Gaza pointed to Luffy, “Gaisho Gaisho repeat!”  
Hiei didn’t know why he did it. One minute he was watching it all unfold, the next he was pushing Luffy away from the oncoming beam. It was probably instinct after spending so much time with the Renkai Tentai, constantly having to keep the idiots out of trouble. Seriously, if he had to give the instinct a name it would be Yusuke-sense. The beam hit his shoulder.  
The straw hat crew watched helplessly as the small demon fell to his knees. Those who were close could even hear the words that occasionally exited his mouth. His arms were tightly holding himself. His eyes were glazed and he was shaking.  
“Oh god… I’m sorry… It’s my fault… my fault… please don’t die… all I have left… sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” He murmured as his fingernails bit into his shoulders, drawing blood.  
“STOP IT!” Luffy roared.  
Hiei fell silent for a few seconds before suddenly twitching.  
Gaza laughed, “Looks like the runt had more than one bad memory to repeat. I’d advise you not to try stopping it by attacking me, I can make the repeat continue for as long as I choose.”  
Hiei’s eyes grew wider, “no.no.no.no.no.no.no.no.no… stop… please… don’t do this… don’t let me go… I’m sorry…I’m sorry… I’m falling…” A small, ebony coloured gem fell from the corner of his eye. He shuddered violently, blood streaming over his hands. The wound on his stomach reopened under his gi, blood seeping through.  
Then, without warning, he stood.   
“Hiei…” Luffy uttered before seeing the look in the demons eyes, it wasn’t a look of anger or even recognition. It was blank. Like a dream.  
Then he disappeared and a scream rang out as one of the henchmen fell to the ground, blood pouring from his shoulder.   
“What?!? This isn’t meant to happen?!” Gaza yelled, “Did he go insane already?!?”  
Hiei reappeared next to another henchman, stabbing his new blade into the man’s stomach. Then he was gone again. Before the first henchman had even reached the ground all four were wounded.  
And then Gaza was on the ground. Hiei stood over him, one foot on the man’s throat. But surprisingly Hiei brought up his blade, instead of crushing Gaza’s neck underfoot.  
“I surrender! I surrender!” Gaza gurgled, but Hiei didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were completely empty.  
“Hiei that’s enough,” Zoro growled, even he knew there was no glory in killing a defeated opponent. But Hiei didn’t seem to notice him either. Zoro lunged forward to stop Hiei’s blade from impaling the now unconscious man.   
Hiei didn’t miss a beat, he dropped down low and flipped forward, using his sword to spring over Zoro. He turned, with an impossible speed, swinging his leg around and kicking the swordsman’s feet from underneath him.  
He brought the blade up, then stopped, frowning slightly. He blinked a few times, looked around and lowered the sword.  
“…What… the fuck… just happened?”  
“Er… you got hit by the repeat beam…” Nami explained.  
“Hn, well that’s confusing.” Hiei noticed the large amount of blood beginning to seep through his gi, “Damn it…” He groaned as he fell onto a knee.   
“Ah! He-Hay!” Luffy yelled as the raven haired demon coughed a small amount of blood into his palm.  
“There they are! Grab them before they set sail!” A voice echoed over the area. The pirates turned slowly to see a hoard of marines spreading over the hill.  
“Crap! It’s the marines! How did they find us?” Luffy yelled.  
“Well, you guys aren’t really subtle…” Hello again, Annoying Bystander A.  
“Wait.” Zoro spoke up, “So you guys decided to attack us on land.”  
“Y… Yes.”  
“Practically two days after we took down eight of your ships.”  
“Yes.”  
“You’re attacking us on dry land. Where we are free to move as we choose without being restricted by the ocean.”  
“Oh…”  
Luffy grinned, “Shishishishihi. Zoro, Sanji, Chopper and Brook, you’re with me! Frankie and Nami, help take Usopp, Robin and He-Hay back to the ship.”  
He was replied with multiple sounds of acknowledgement ranging from “Heh,” to “Yes Captain,” to “hell yeah!” The only sound that didn’t fit was that of a small demon.  
“Don’t count me out just yet.” Hiei stood.  
“But you’re bleeding quite badly…” Chopper called.  
Hiei frowned, “I’ve had far worse.” He reached up and removed the seal from his forehead. (Putting it in his pocket, it was expensive {even if he hadn’t paid for it})  
In an instant everyone in the area felt his Haki. No, it wasn’t Haki. It felt more than threatening, it was evil. That was the only word that could describe the horrid oppressing force being emitted from the three eyed boy. But Hiei frowned, “Damn,” He muttered, “It’s only regenerated by this much.”  
Luffy’s smile widened even further, which seemed impossible but he somehow pulled it off, “See guys, I told you he was strong enough for the crew!”  
“Not in your crew, captain.” Hiei said absent-mindedly, before readying his sword.  
“Hey He-Hay!”  
“Hn?”  
“Let’s make this a competition!”  
“Hn.”  
The thin stretch of grass became pure chaos as five strawhats and one demon faced the onslaught of 200 marines.  
Hiei wouldn’t admit it, but he was keeping a close (Jagan) eye on the pirates as they fought, and they were actually pretty impressive for humans.  
The Captain had taken an unusual and practically useless ability and morphed it into a cruel and effective technique. A technique that couldn’t be copied or predicted, due to its uniqueness.   
The Swordsman was also expectedly strong. His durability and strength seemed to be far superior to the average man. He didn’t seem to own a devil fruit but he more than made up for it with precise and crippling blows. He would be a challenge in an actual battle. Also the use of three swords at once was pretty cool.  
The Cook… was interesting, he seemed to have developed a style completely dependent on his legs, but Hiei knew from experience that a fighter should never rely on a single weapon. But still, the ability to walk on air and set his feet on fire was new.  
Hiei vaguely acknowledging the Doctor now, with seven forms for different circumstances he was well prepared to face different types of enemies, regardless of size or range, and preparation and technique was half the battle.  
The Skeleton. Hiei ignored that one. He was making people sleep. With music. What the hell. Just no. Why?  
Hiei cleared his mind as he ploughed through the marines. He forgot about the idiot pirates, he forgot about his uncertainty, he forgot himself. He lived purely for the battle, even if it was one-sided. This was what he did best. He summoned a flame into his hand, and threw it, simply to see what would happen.  
He contemplated using the front of his blade, after all he didn’t need to worry about Koen- no, forget that. He continued using the back of the blade simply because he didn’t believe the people he was versing were worth it.  
It was over in minutes. No enemies remained in front of him. He turned to the Detective, before realising there was no Detective. It disgusted him how he would instinctively turn, expecting to see members of the Renkai Tentai. He wouldn’t admit it to himself but his years with them were the best of his life. God, it disgusted him.  
He bit the inside of his cheek, and looked over at the humans around him. They were laughing and cheering about nothing in particular. Hiei said nothing, he just pulled the ward from his pocket and wrapped it around his forehead, wincing slightly at the sting.  
He was vaguely aware of the captain talking to him, mostly saying things related to enemies, swords and crews. He sheathed his blade.  
Hiei was surprised when his body suddenly shook slightly. He’d forgotten about the blood seeping through his gi. His shoulders were also bleeding slightly, but he couldn’t quite remember what from. He felt a hand on his arm and he turned. It was the doctor, in his usual smaller form.  
“Are you okay, Hiei?” He looked concerned, a look Hiei hated when directed at him.  
“I’ll be fine.” Hiei growled slightly, he couldn’t quite figure out why he felt so exhausted and depressed, it was unlike him. He’d been feeling fine until just before, when he’d opened his eyes and been standing over the swordsman. It annoyed him to no end.  
Chopper frowned, “You’re bleeding from your old wound aren’t you? You’re not fine.” Hiei glared, but it was strained.  
“I am fine.” He said firmly, before promptly falling onto his face.  
“Hiei?”  
“I’m fine!” He growled through the dirt, it wasn’t that he’d lost consciousness, he was just momentarily unable to move.   
He scowled with full intensity as he was carried back to the ship.

 

Gaisho Gaisho no mi- Trauma Trauma Fruit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual Disclaimer applies.  
> K thanks.  
> I would say I own Gaza, but I made him in like, five minutes. Feel free to use him and his ability.


	5. Do some Training Little Demon

Chopper finally let Hiei leave the infirmary, an hour after they’d set sail, much to Hiei’s displeasure. He left the area and, while avoiding any idiots in the area, headed to the deck.  
He was once again approached by the Skeleton… Brock?  
“You okay?”  
Hiei hated pity, “I’m fine.” He growled.  
“I see… the others would like to talk to you at dinner tonight.”  
Hiei nearly shivered at the thought of being in the disaster they called a meal, but it wasn’t like he was doing anything else. “Hn.”  
Brook was silent for a moment, “So… do you remember much of the last battle?”  
“Everything except the beginning, why?”  
“Well,” Brook crooked his head slightly, “You were hit by Gaza’s Gaisho beam early on, and you may or may not have said some things before stabbing all four of his men.”  
It was Hiei’s turn to be silent, after a few moments he spoke again, “Well that explains a lot. You should ignore anything I may or may not have said.”  
“You sure, it sounded painful?”  
Surprisingly Hiei didn’t glare at the skeleton, “You shouldn’t be concerned for me.” He said simply.  
Brooks face became confused (Even-though-he-doesn’t-have-a-face-Yohohohohoho), “Why wouldn’t we be concerned for you? You’re our friend.”  
Hiei nearly choked out of sheer surprise, “Friends are a crutch for the weak.” It shocked him, that these mortals could call him such so easily.  
“You don’t mean that.” Brook leaned over the railing next to him, ‘You must have had at least one friend in your life.”  
“No. I’ve been too busy to engage with such trivial things.”  
“Are you busy now?” Brook pointed out.  
Hiei pouted slightly, “shut up.”  
“Yohohohoho.”  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The final meal of the day came too quickly for Hiei’s liking, but that was probably because he’d spent the afternoon napping. He’d been up in his spot on the mast when he’d heard the captain calling for him, or for someone named He-Hay.  
He dropped silently and Luffy jumped, “Gah! He-Hay, don’t do that, I thought you were… one of them.”  
“Them?”  
“The ninjas.”  
Hiei groaned, of course. He followed the captain downstairs, to where the rest of crew had begun eating in order to actually get some food before the captain ate it.  
Hiei sat at the side, occasionally dodging random flying objects like cutlery. He still didn’t really need to eat. He couldn’t really understand how the humans continued to eat yet didn’t get fat, seriously, where did it all go?  
“H~e, oo gort.” Luffy said through what looked like a giant lump of meat.  
Hiei looked at him, and said nothing.  
Luffy swallowed the amount of food that would usually split a normal humans throat open. “I said, Are you gon eat tonight?”  
Hiei shrugged, “No.”  
“EHH!! But it’s been three days!”  
“Yes, and I’ll be fine for two or three days more.”  
There was (a welcomed) silence. Of course, the red head navigator then broke it.  
“So, Hiei, Do you know what you’re planning to do yet?”  
Hiei was silent for a moment before sighing slightly. “Well, it turns out there’s no way back to the place I came from. That being said, there is also no way for the person I spoke of earlier to find me, so I guess I can… divulge some information on the matter.” He paused for a moment, noticed everyone was listening intently, and continued.  
“A couple hundred years ago I arrived in a world known as the Ningenkai, filled with humans and extremely low level demons. Two years ago I returned to my birth world, the Makai, which is a world filled entirely with demons of varying levels. That was where I was before I arrived here. I assumed that this was the Ningenkai because of the… humanoid life, but it seems this is a different world, independent of the Makai and Reikai altogether.”  
“The Reikai?” The dark haired woman echoed.  
“The spirit world, which pretty much rules over the Ningenkai.”  
“What make you think it’s a different world?” The Red Head Navigator asked.  
“Just two things, the first being that, as I mentioned, the Ningenkai I know contained many low level demons, but I have not sensed another beings Youki since I arrived here. Also… I’m rather notorious to the Reikai. If someone even mentioned three eyes or flame demon in the Ningenkai he would know.”  
“Who is he?”  
“The son of the ruler of the Reikai, Koenma. I worked for him, unfortunately, for a few years before I returned to the Makai. He’s deemed me as ‘dangerous’ to the human race.”  
“W…what did you do?” The long nosed guy (Whose existence Hiei ignored) asked.  
“All kinds of stuff, including stealing a weapon from the Reikai, taking a town hostage and trying to kill a detective. I didn’t actually end up killing anyone though. But in the end I was put on probation for the Reikai, for the next few years. All in all, he fears me and I loath his existence. Pretty simple.”  
Silence reigned for a few seconds before all the questions all came at once.  
“Wait, so you’re from another world?!?”  
“There’s a world of demons?!?”  
“So you don’t have a way back?” Oh, that was a slightly smarter question.  
“TOOK a town hostage?!?” He’d already said that, was it really so unbelievable?  
“Can demons poop?” God-Damn it Luffy.  
Hiei sighed, “Yes. Another world. Yes. There is a world of demons. No, I usually travel through a place called the Makai barrier between worlds, but I haven’t found a trace of it here. Yes. I took a town hostage, it was a terrible idea. And Luffy. I don’t know about all demons. I don’t go around randomly asking people if they eliminate waste.”  
The dark haired woman seemed to be thinking, “So basically you’re stuck here?”  
Hiei shrugged slightly, “It seems that way.”  
Zoro spoke up, “You don’t seem particularly bothered.” He stated, it wasn’t a question.  
“No, it’s not really too much of a problem for me. I wasn’t really doing anything before this.”  
The cyborg raised an eyebrow, “What about the thing you wanted to check on?”  
Hiei was silent for more than a moment, “It’ll be fine. I left it with someone of substantial strength.” He said carefully. They didn’t question him any further on the matter.  
Luffy was quiet for about an eighth of a second before he spoke again (In an entirely too loud voice) “Well if you’re not doing anything then join my crew!!”  
Hiei didn’t actually object immediately. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to travel with these guys. Even Hiei could admit that these guys were powerful, and he knew from experience that strong, famous people would attract other strong people. Then again, even if he did get a worthy opponent, was it worth the annoyances of the crew, especially that of the captain? Maybe he should just work in assassination, then again it would take time to actually earn a full reputation. He just wanted to fight people anyway.  
He could hear the long nosed boy and the red head navigator furiously and nervously whispering to the captain in a tone quiet enough for a human not to hear, though Hiei preferred to ignore them, though he was surprised that only the two of them were objecting.  
“Ehh? Why?” Luffy whined, “He’s really strong and it’s not like he’s doing anything else!”  
“At least let him think about it.” Red head Navigator hissed.  
Luffy pouted, “M’kay, He-Hay, you can think about it for a while if ya like.”  
Hiei nodded slightly in thought, “Hn.”  
Luffy waited about an eighth of a second before speaking again, “He-Hay, what other powers do ya have?”  
Hiei cocked his head slightly, “Well I’m a fire demon, so I have control over flames, mostly just manipulation and creation. My jagan eye,” he gestured to his forehead, “was implanted, and has its own set of abilities including remote viewing and tracking.” He noticed Luffy’s blank expression and sighed, “Seeing things that are really far away.”  
“Did it hurt to get implanted?” Chopper asked, looking concerned, “You would have to cut open your skull!”  
Hiei smirked, “It was one of the most painful experiences of my life, but it was worth it.” Luffy was undeterred even though the others were grimacing.  
“What’s with the tattoo?” Surprising it was Zoro who spoke, “It’s like it has its own haki or something.”  
Hiei didn’t show it but he was surprised they’d picked that up, “Let’s just say it’s my trump card.” He smirked slightly, but didn’t explain it any further. He hadn’t been able to get a seal large enough to supress the dragon of the darkness, so he was relying on keeping a cool head.  
“Do you have super speed? I saw you in the last battle and I could barely follow your movements!” Luffy asked (loudly).  
Hiei’s eyebrows raised slightly behind his headband, “No, my speed is only from training, although if you could actually follow my movements you’re not so bad yourself.” Hiei didn’t mention he’d only used a fraction of his speed.  
Most of the crew pulled faces and shook one hand in front of themselves, “Don’t complement people He-Hay, it doesn’t suit you.”  
Robin giggled as Hiei sent a death glare potent enough to make Chopper and Usopp run away.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Nami sat in the girl’s room, looking at a little, ebony gemstone in her palm. It was small, smaller than a marble, but had the most exquisite shine. It felt both hot and cold in the palm of her hand, and looked so, so similar to the gem on the little demons necklace, apart from the colour.  
No one had seen her scooping it off the ground on the battle field. No one had seen her store it in her pocket. The crew had agreed without words not to speak of what had happened to Hiei unless he asked. She’d seen the gem fall from his eye like a tear.  
She wasn’t quite sure what to think about that.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hiei of the Jagan eye was thinking. And not just the regular, ‘do penguins have knees?’ thinking, no much deeper thinking. It would probably be easier to think if people stopped trying to talk to him every five seconds.  
So far he’d had at least five interruptions from different members of the crew that morning. They all kept looking at him with those eyes. Eyes of… concern, worry… pity. He hated that.  
It was the Doctor first, asking about his wounds. His stomach would had already sealed and was beginning to heal again, and the little cuts on his shoulders were nearly gone, he’d just needed a night’s sleep. The Doctor had eventually left him alone (after promising to come back later).  
The second was the Robot, who rambled about something (Hiei stopped listening), did a dance, and walked off.  
The third visitor was the Raven Haired Woman… Ronin… or something. She wasn’t as bad as the others, and left him after he answered some of her questions, mostly things about his home world. Stuff like what was it like and how he travelled between worlds.  
The forth was the Skeleton, asking Hiei if he’d like to sing with some of the crew. A swift glare sent him away. Hiei did not sing. Singing was not something Hiei does. Hiei does not sing.  
After the Skeleton left (fled) Hiei took the chance to meditate (nap). Of course his rest was interrupted within seconds, by the most annoying of the crew, their leader.  
“Hey He-Hay (“Hiei” the demon murmured), Wanna come train with me and Zoro?”  
“Hn.” Hiei said in an affirmative tone, training was a good idea, even if it was alongside members of the crew.  
When they reached the grassy deck (while Hiei ignored Luffy’s ramblings) Zoro had already started, lifting weights many time his own size. Luffy went and did something Hiei could only describe as ‘damn humans and their inconsistent anatomy.’  
Hiei sat near the edge and summoned a small mortal flame into his hand. He wanted to start with ordinary Youki maintenance, at least, that’s what he called it. He closed his eyes, feeling the energy pulse in his hand. He increased it, but condensed it to remain in the shape of a tiny orb. If he’d had his eyes open it would have looked like a tiny sun in his palm. He pushed himself further, fighting the urge to let the flames expand, and keeping it in the same shape. He could feel the heat washing over his body, but it meant nothing to him, it was barely warm. He’d never really felt the elements.  
He sighed slightly and slowly released the flame as not to burn the ship in eternal fury. He opened his eyes as the last particles of light became smoke in the wind. He exhaled and noticed that six of the nine strawhats were watching him intently from a metre away. The only ones not there was the Red Head, the Smart Girl and the Blond Chef.  
Hiei raised an eyebrow under his seal, “What?”  
Chopper, Usopp, Frankie and Luffy’s eyes were shining, “So cool!!”  
Hiei bit back another sigh and crossed over to the edge of the boat, climbing up onto the side.  
“What ya doin He-Hay?” Luffy asked in a strangely serious matter, and Hiei could feel them looking at him with those eyes again.  
“Relax.” Hiei monotoned, “I’m just going for a run, I’ll be back in a second.”  
Without waiting for a response he pushed off the edge. The ship was surprisingly big and as he fell he could begin to hear the others moving towards the side, but it was painfully slow. He didn’t particularly like the sense of falling, but he was used to it.  
As he reached the bottom of the ship he kicked off the wall, gaining speed. He knew he wouldn’t run far, but it would be okay for a bit, he could swim back if he had to. A foot touched the surface of the water and he lifted it again, placing the other down. It was like walking, but different. It was quicker, quick enough for him to need complete concentration, but it was also lighter, using his momentum to keep going, rather than a firm push of the layer beneath his feet. He kept running. He didn’t think of how long it had been, he knew it was only a few seconds. He didn’t think of how far he’d travelled, he knew it was only around 50 metres. Two seconds later he’d passed 150.  
He could see ripples beneath the water, and avoided overly rough patches. He’d turned around, flipping backwards to keep momentum and started to go back to the ship. He’d travelled further than first assumed, but it didn’t bother him. He kept running. He was about 50 metres off from the ship when his left foot broke the surface and he slipped into the water.  
He didn’t pay attention to the people on the ship calling out to him, he took a breath and dived under. It was cool, he could tell, even though he couldn’t really feel it. He loved the silence. He didn’t stay around long enough for anything to catch sight of him. He kicked out under the water, gliding through. He may have been a fire demon but he was strangely fond of swimming, it was quite calming, even with the tactical disadvantage it put him at. With the water over his head and everything muffled and slowed down, it was a quiet spot that Hiei rarely had access to. Sure, a large body of water would put him at a significant disadvantage during battle, but he wasn’t stupid enough to get caught. He enjoyed the weightless silence for a moment longer.  
He broke the surface again next to the ship. He could hear the crew calling his name, but they didn’t seem to see him. Pressing a single foot and hand to the side of the hull he lunged upwards.  
Luffy yelled with surprise as a small, soaked demon suddenly shot up in front of him. “GAH!! He-Hay!”  
Hiei caught the railing and pulled himself onto the ship easily, “Hn?” He hummed as he saw their shocked expressions.  
“Hiei! It’s freezing!” Chopper yelled, “We’re really close to a winter island! You’ll get hypothermia or nerve deterioration or…” He continued, listing a number of extreme cold and ice related ailments.  
“Ah,” Hiei murmured with realization, “That’s why you guys are freaking out. I would have warned you but I didn’t realise it was cold.”  
Zoro cocked his head, “Are you as slow as Luffy?”  
“Ah, it’s cold!” Luffy suddenly remembered it was cold. (Well done Captain obvious)  
Hiei mentally screamed from being compared to Luffy, “No, I just don’t really have a good perception of temperature. I’m a fire demon so extreme temperatures don’t bother me.” He didn’t mention the real reason for his resistance to cold and ice.  
“So you just don’t feel it or it has no effect?” Chopper asked, concern creeping into his voice.  
Hiei resisted the urge to snap, “No effect.” He said firmly, removing his cloak (Keeping pants on of course!), and proceeding to wring it out, heating it with a small flame until it was dry.  
Zoro had returned to his training after he realised Hiei was okay. Luffy emerged from below deck clad in a jacket, and he began to do his… inconsistent rubber man thing…  
Hiei ignored the few people still watching him. He wouldn’t train with his Jagan eye today, he was still waiting for his energy to return completely. He stretched for a bit and decided to finish his workout for the day. After all, he was still thinking. Thinking intently about Luffy’s offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I keep forgetting this story!!  
> Usual disclaimers apply, the next chapter will include an extra island.


	6. Explore the Island, Little Demon

Hiei opened his eyes again that afternoon, and realised he’d fallen asleep. He wasn’t particularly bothered, he knew he would sense the energy of anyone who tried to attack him. In fact he was quite pleased that he’d managed to get some sleep with the pirates around. He’d awoken to the sound of the captain yelling, something about land. He could see a hulking mass of what looked almost like crystal ahead of them.

He sat up, he’d been leaning against the side of the back mast, meaning he’d been laying at the top of it. He stretched his arms above his head and jumped down without a sound, scaring the life out of the dude Hiei refused to acknowledge.

Luffy looked over to him, “He-Hay! We’ve reached land, wanna explore?” Hiei nodded vaguely, “Hn.”

Only a few of them actually left the ship, and they were Nico Robin, Tony Tony Chopper, Monkey D. Luffy, Roranoa Zoro and Hiei.

Hiei’s bad mood darkened even further as he saw the island. There was no snow, the entire island was covered entirely by ice. The smoothest ice one could imagine. There was a tall, sharp peak in the centre and a cluster of ice houses around it. There wasn’t a single shaving of ice out of place, it was all one solid mass, and even Hiei could feel the cool (a slight chill to him.).

Luffy and Chopper happily slid across the ice, laughing. Robin and Zoro walked a little behind them, with the former occasionally leading the latter back on track before he could wander off. Hiei walked in silence, mulling over memories. In fact he didn’t notice what was wrong until five minutes after they arrived. He removed his head seal and his eyes narrowed.

“Eh? What’s up He-Hay?”

“Every house on the island is empty.” He growled, “But it’s as if people were here just moments ago, there’s remnants of a large population.”

Luffy looked at him blankly and Hiei remembered his intelligence levels.

Thankfully, Robin was there to translate, “What Hiei meant was that the townsfolk have disappeared, but it seems like they were here earlier.” Luffy’s eyes widened and he nodded.

“You mentioned your Jagan eye can track… Reiki, can you do that now?” Robin asked, and Hiei was slightly pleased that at least someone had listened to his lecture on spiritual energy.

“Already on it.” Hiei murmured as he closed his natural eyes, it shouldn’t have been that difficult to track a couple of humans, especially such a large group. He branched out further than the island, yet still found nothing. Then he realised it. He stopped looking for Reiki and simply surveyed the island, what he saw would have made his blood run cold if he wasn’t already a cold blooded killer.

“It would seem.” He began calmly, “That every living creature in the village has been transformed into ice.” He emphasised his point by slicing his sword through a door, which shattered, revealing the frozen figure of a woman. She cradled a baby in her arms, and like her it was also made entirely of ice. There was a yell of both shock and simple confusion.

“I… is everyone like this?” Chopper stuttered.

Hiei nodded, “I can still feel a faint source of Reiki, but it’s not from these people. They have… only a trace of life energy. As if they were living only moments ago.” He surveyed the faces of the people around him, Zoro seemed confused, Chopper looked nervous and jittery, Robin was deep in thought and then there was Luffy. Luffy wore an expression Hiei had seen before. He’d seen the detective… Yusuke Urameshi… wear it. It was an expression of fury, determination and a readiness to fight through anything. Yusuke had worn it when the people close to him were threatened. It suited Luffy well, as if it was an expression he wore often.

Robin broke the momentary silence, “Hiei, you said you could sense a small amount of Reiki, was it from something different?”

“Let me check.” Hiei didn’t close his natural eyes, he could already guess where it was coming from.

“The tip of the peak at the centre of the island.” He said literally a second later. “There’s about five creatures, human, but my vision is distorted…” He frowned slightly, this wasn’t right. His energy was 100%, so what could be powerful enough to block his vision? He dismissed it.

“So we have to climb the mountain?” Luffy growled. His drastic change in demeanour mildly surprised Hiei.

“Looks that way.” Hiei shrugged. They turned towards the colossal structure. It had no ledges or handholds, it was smooth crystal-like ice. It would be difficult to climb normally.

To his surprise though, when they reached the mountain, the strawhats handled it well. Hands sprouted from the side of the cliff face and helped the raven haired woman climb. Damn humans and their inconsistent anatomy. It seemed that the doctor, being a reindeer, was quite suited to this kind of environment as he climbed with little difficulty. The swordsman was stabbing two of his swords into the ice and using them to climb, the captain holding onto his shoulders like a monkey (Pun intended.).

Hiei sighed and followed, he could have simply ran up the mountain quickly but he decided to stay with the crew. He raised the Youki, and the temperature, of his feet and walked as the ice formed small footholds beneath him.

Together they climbed the pinnacle. 

                                                                                      ----------------------------------------------

 

“Phew!” Luffy yelled. The five of them, Luffy, Zoro, Robin, Chopper and Hiei stood at the pinnacle. “That was a hard climb.” Luffy complained. In the centre of the peak stood a large building, which they began to head towards.

“I carried you the whole way!” Zoro argued.

“Yeah, but only ‘cause I kept slipping down! Rubber doesn’t help with ice.” Luffy whined. Luffy was the only one who didn’t notice Hiei’s expression. It was a mixture of confusion, anger and annoyance, possibly with a hint of pain.

“Have you noticed something, Hiei?” Robin asked.

Hiei’s eyes snapped up, as if he hadn’t realised they’d been talking, “Hn? It’s nothing.” He muttered. He didn’t tell them about how his Jagan eye’s vision was still distorted, even from this range. He didn’t tell them how he felt a strange feeling of danger. And he definitely didn’t mention how many memories this island was resurfacing. He stayed silent. Hiei was the master of his own emotions and wouldn’t let anyone see through his mask.

As they entered the ‘building’ (it was more like a cavern) Hiei’s Jagan vision cleared slightly, there was slight distortions but it wasn’t too bad. “There are five paths in the next room. I can’t see which path ends where though.” He said simply.

“Yosh! So we each take a path and meet up at the end?” Luffy half asked and half stated. Before anyone could say anything he charged off down one of the paths. The others called, sighed and went down separate roads. Hiei could remember the last time he’d done this, at least this time he didn’t have to wear an annoying sticker.

                             -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hiei walked through the corridors swiftly. He had no need to hurry but he had no need to take his time either. All the halls looked the same, but he could tell he was nearing some form of life, almost certainly that of a human. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard a small string of swears about pathways and incorrect directions.

“Swordsman?” Hiei called out and wasn’t surprised to hear a reply from the other side of the wall next to him.

“Huh, Hiei? That you?”

“Yes. It would seem our paths are connected at this point.” The small demon murmured, loud enough to be heard. There was a small gap at the top of the wall to his left, where the air seemed to flow through from the other side.

“Damn caves keep moving…” Zoro growled and muttered to himself. Hiei wondered how he could get lost in a straight tunnel. They walked in silence, but Hiei’s Jagan could see Zoro walking in the corridor next to him. Zoro broke the silence, “So, what’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?” Hiei responded, although he wasn’t surprised that someone had noticed his darker change of demeanour.

“You seem uncomfortable and grumpier than usual. So what’s up? And don’t give me that ‘it’s nothing’ bullshit.” Zoro said firmly and Hiei stifled a scowl.

“It’s not something that matters. …This Island just reminds me of a place I used to know.” Hiei said carefully. He didn’t wish to wander past memories.

“You know,” Zoro said, “You don’t need to completely open up to the crew. I was the first member, yet I’ve never told them of my past. The crew believes it isn’t a problem unless you’re in pain.”

Hiei only replied with his signature _Hn_ but he knew this would make things easier, or at least it meant that no one would pry.

Unfortunately Zoro continued to say, “That being said, Luffy won’t leave you alone if he think you’re depressed or pissed, so watch out for that.” Hiei could see the wall between them becoming thicker as Zoro’s path veered away.

“See you at the end.” Hiei called. He didn’t hear Zoro’s reply, he had already headed onward.

                             -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hiei was nearing the end of his path when he heard a yell. He wasn’t worried, but he advanced quickly anyway. He felt a blast of fresh air and light assaulted his eyes as he stepped into a large hall like cavern. The strangest change was that the distortion in his Jagan vision disappeared completely. His eyes widened as he saw some of the inhabitants of the room. There was… that guy… with the greasy hair… Garry Tremble or something. Four men stood by his side, but unlike the men who were with him before they were individually dressed and each one had an over average amount of… Haki, yes, that’s what they called it.

“Oh, you’re here, Child of the Evil Eye.” The lanky man began his exposition, “It is more than fate that you are to meet I, Gaza Temma(Oh, that’s his name), here again. You embarrassed me greatly in front of the marines and even killed some of my men. Thanks to you my reputation is slaughtered.” He continued dramatically, “Therefore I asked my associate to take this island hostage so I could have my revenge. You may not realise it, being the common fool that you are, but every villager on this island alive, my associate just has to return them to flesh. Don’t resist me, Child of the Evil Eye, or they will never breathe again.” He struck a pose to complete his monologue.

Hiei looked him dead in the eye, “You done? Firstly, Child of the Evil Eye, is that really the name you’re going with? I mean really, how can someone be the offspring of a cornea? Secondly, I couldn’t care less for your reputation or these villagers. And lastly, this is a terrible job of taking a village hostage. Did you really think through what would happen if I attacked you?”

Gaza was stumped, “But… The villagers… I thought you were all meant to be obsessed with justice!”

Hiei smirked, “Neither the Marines nor you even know my name, and you’re expecting me to care for a couple of mortals? This is a matter of pride now, I have no choice but to ruin your plans.” 

He was pulling his sword from its scabbard when he heard a crash as a fist flew through a door behind him. He internally groaned as he realised who it was.

“Ah, Monkey D. Luffy,” Gaza regained some of his composer, “It is more than fate that you are to meet I, Gaza Tem-”

“No. Don’t begin your speech again if you want to keep your tongue.” Hiei cut him off, before turning to Luffy, “Basically, this guy got someone to freeze the villagers, but it’s reversible.” He explained quickly.

Gaza turned to his crew and spoke loudly enough for them to hear him, “You three go and make sure the other straw hats don’t interrupt. Tamamo, stay here.”

“You really want to send away some of your meat shields? You’re awfully confident.” Hiei taunted as Luffy cracked his knuckles, emphasising the point. 

Surprisingly Gaza laughed, “Believe me, the two of us will be enough.” He turned to Luffy, “You saw what my Gaisho beam did to the kid (“Kid?”) before. If you don’t follow my instructions it may well happen again.”

Luffy was strangely quiet for a moment, before speaking again in a rather serious tone, “There’s no way I’ll let you hit him again.”

Gaza smirked, “Maybe not, but let’s see what happens. Tamamo, play with them for a bit.”

“Don’t get cocky Gaza.” Tamamo was a tall, well-muscled man with dark grey hair slicked backwards, even though he wasn’t old. He wore basic clothes and didn’t really stand out apart from the fact had a strange smell surrounding him, sort of like gunpowder. Tamamo silently pulled a stone from his pocket and broke an icicle from the ceiling.

“Tsukuru tsukuru switch.” He muttered. The long shard of ice in his hand became stiff and grey. It took Luffy and Hiei a second to realise that he’d turned it into stone.

“So you’re the one who turned the villagers into ice.” Luffy wasn’t asking, it was a statement.

Tamamo said nothing. Without warning he lunged towards Hiei, brandishing the stone-icicle like a spear. Hiei dodged quite easily, but noticed that this man was faster than most he’d met by this point. Hiei retaliated immediately, knowing that he shouldn’t give this man time to use his strange magic plant powers. He moved quickly, but went in for a kick instead of with his sword, he knew they needed him alive to save the villagers or whatever. (Hiei didn’t really care, but he knew the strawhats were his free ride, and he didn’t want to screw that up.)

Hiei had to slow down just before his foot made contact, if he hit someone at full speed he would either rip through their body or his own leg. The kick made contact with Tamamo’s face and Hiei heard a crack within his jaw. Oh how he loved that sound.

Unfortunately, since he was moving at a slightly slower pace he was unprepared when Tamamo’s arm whipped out, grabbing his leg. “Tsukuru Tsukuru Switch.” Hiei’s sword flashed and a long, shallow cut appeared on Tamamo’s hand, forcing him to release his grip. Hiei flipped backwards and hissed as he noticed a section of his leg, in the outline of a hand shape, had been turned into pure ice.

Tamamo raised an eyebrow slightly, “Oh… Usually that turns the entire body into the material… Are you particularly ice resistant?”

Hiei smirked, but it was slightly forced, “You could say that.” He knew he was suddenly put at a disadvantage, it wasn’t like those times when he’d been covered in ice, the section from his right ankle to the middle of his shin had literally been turned into ice. He could see his own bones and sinews through the transparent solid. He forced himself to keep his own Youki away from that area, as not to melt it, it was lucky the island was below the freezing temperature of water.

“Sorry about that.” Tamamo took a stance.

Before either of them could lunge for the other a howl of pain shook through the hollow. Hiei turned and his eyes widened in both disbelief and slight confusion.

Monkey D. Luffy was on his knees, eyes glazed and mouth slightly open, a few meters from where Gaza Temma stood with a pathetic look of triumph.

“AAACCEEEE!!!” Luffy called, his voice filled with more pain than Hiei had found possible for humans. It sounded similar to when the detect… Yusuke… had believed the idiot (Kuwabara) was dead, except it was closer. Closer than a friend, closer than a rival. A pain even closer to one’s heart. Hiei hadn’t heard that kind of pain in a person. Not even the ones who were begging for their lives.

Gaza laughed, “You may stop Tamamo, the Child of the Evil Eye won’t try to attempt anything with his captain hostage.” He turned to Hiei, (who was still sick of that nickname) “How does it feel to watch your teammate in pain? You probably know Ace is his brother, who died in his arms two years ago. Can you imagine a more painful, traumatic, experience than that? And he’s going to repeat it until he goes insane!”

Hiei did not hesitate. “Really? You’re still hiding behind meat-shields. You’re pissed I killed your men and ruined your non-existent reputation. He has nothing to do with this, if you really want revenge stop being a coward and hiding behind a meat-shield. I would say do as you please to me, but I doubt you could make me blink.”

Gaza seemed genuinely surprised for a moment, before regaining his somewhat lacking composure and coughing, “I know straw-hat is obsessed with his nakama, so I’ll make him suffer watching you scream in agony.” He took a breath and howled (shrieked girlishly) “Gaisho Gaisho BEAM!!”

A millisecond before the beam hit into his chest Hiei smirked, he loved it when a plan came together. This time wouldn’t be like the last. (In which he had assumed he’d lost consciousness or something, he didn’t really remember) He felt his natural eyes lose sight of the world around him as images and memories flickered across his mind.

But this time was different. His Jagan eye wasn’t sealed, and he had perfect control over his mind when it was open. He could see everything around him, but even he would admit he’d underestimated the intensity of these memories. He didn’t just see them, he felt everything he’d felt at the time. One of the most prominent recollections were of when his most important person went missing. He hadn’t seen her after being trapped in the Ningenkai and suddenly he found out she’d been kidnapped and tortured. She could have been dead. He forced himself to concentrate. He couldn’t lose himself here.

Hiei could see Luffy beginning to stand up, it was shaky, as if he was wounded, but he was wearing that face again. Hiei would have called out, to say he could fight this off, but as he tried to speak he felt himself slipping and stayed silent. Luffy was saying something now, but Hiei couldn’t really hear it. All he saw was Gaza’s face becoming furious as Luffy struggled to keep standing. Then it happened. Gaza hadn’t planned on keeping a hostage to stop the other from fighting. Hiei realised that as he saw Gaza lunge forward, and stab Luffy in the chest.

Everything stopped. Hiei couldn’t see. His images flickered. On one side Luffy was falling, Gaza standing over him with a short but wicked blade. On the other side, Yusuke Urameshi was falling, with Shinobu Sensui in the same position. Something clicked in Hiei’s mind and he gave up on keeping memories and reality separate. He made them one and the same.

“Dragon of the Darkness Flame!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual disclaimers apply.   
> Cool.


	7. THe end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this story is super dead, I started in 2014, its been 3 years.   
> But I wrote about three more chapters so I'll upload them here anyway.

A column of black flames erupted from Hiei’s arm in the figure of a dragon, incinerating everything it touched. Gaza tried to bring up his arms to defend himself, but he was ‘eaten’ by the dragon in only a few milliseconds. As the dragon burst through a wall of the cave and continued onwards Hiei’s mind cleared, but that was probably due to Gaza’s recent demise.   
Hiei panted, he had used too much strength defending his mind, plus summoning a dragon on top of that didn’t help. With a jolt he remembered the captain and tried to quickly move over to him. As he tried to run he fell and realised, with a tremble of shock, that a small portion of his leg had melted. He forced himself to continue, while carefully avoiding placing stress on his right leg, until he reached the captains side.  
Luffy’s eyes were unfocused and he was shaking quite badly. Hiei bit his tongue as he realised Luffy had been stabbed through a lung, it was a wonder he wasn’t dead already.   
“Y… Hunhh…” Luffy coughed slightly and a small trickle of blood dripped from his mouth.  
“Don’t talk.” Hiei ordered and his brow furrowed, what the hell should he do. He knew there wasn’t time to find the doctor and bring him there. Carrying Luffy somewhere was also a no go, it would only open the wound further. ‘Shit, shit, shit, shit!!’ Hiei thought to himself. He didn’t understand why but he was determined not to let Luffy die here, he just couldn’t allow it. His mind was running a million situations a second, or at least it felt that way.   
He didn’t know how to treat wounds in any way, and it was even worse with the inconsistent anatomy that these humans seemed to possess. He could try burning the wound shut… no, that would never work, why did all his solutions link back to burning something? He thought of every ability he possessed but had nothing.  
Luffy shook violently.   
Hiei’s thoughts became darker. ‘Would he really fail again this soon? Why was it every time he became slightly close to something it would get hurt? Was it because he was the forbidden child? He was going to fail again, just like he failed her-’  
He stopped. There it was. The last possible solution. It was kind of ironic how all these things always led back to her, Yukina, his sister. She had the ability to heal people, in fact everyone in their race did. It was a korime ability, like their ice and tears. And Hiei was half korime.  
“Luffy, I need you to listen to me, but don’t try to talk or move.” Hiei began, “I’m going to try to do something I’ve never done before. I need you to relax as much as possible.” The only sign that Luffy had heard him was a slight twitch in the eyes, why did they look like they were smiling?  
Hiei cleared his thoughts and placed his hands in the air a few centimetres above Luffy’s chest. He tried to remember how Yukina did it. She had sometimes said she’d used her longing to heal and help in order to stimulate her ability. Hiei thought about it for a millisecond before realising that would never work for him. They may have been twins but their emotions were completely different, she was kind and wished for everyone’s wellbeing, even for the man who had tortured her. Hiei, on the other hand, was spiteful and wished a slow death to those who rubbed him the wrong way, he cared only for himself and for her. Instead of trying to copy Yukina, he decided to play to his strengths. He focused on his determination not to fail. On his hatred of how the captain was injured. On how angered he was that he’d allowed the captain to become injured. He didn’t send his ordinary Youki to his hands, instead felt the cold within him and solidified it inside his soul, pulsing it through his body and then to his open palms.  
“H… He-Hay…” a voice murmured at the edge of his thoughts but he couldn’t quite hear it. His body shook suddenly and he opened his eyes. To his shock and actual surprise he saw Luffy’s eyes were closed. At first he thought, with a pang of a strange feeling he didn’t quite understand, that the rubber boy was dead, but then he saw Luffy’s chest rising and falling. Upon closer inspection he even saw that the wound on his chest had been sealed, although the skin was still not completely healed at least the gap in his lung seemed to be closed. Hiei sighed, then turned quickly as he heard a footstep.  
Hiei’s eyes widened in slight horror as he realised what he’d forgotten. Tamamo. The taller man stood a few metres away and was slowly approaching. Hiei picked up his blade, ignoring the pain that ricocheted through his entire being.   
The grey haired man shook his head slightly, “…Gaza’s actions on this island were illegal and a shame to the name of bounty hunters, thank yo.”  
Hiei remained attentive and said nothing, Tamamo shrugged, “Holding the villagers hostage was inconvenient and now Gaza’s out of the picture they will be released, do not worry.” He grew even closer and Hiei’s grip on his sword tightened. “Tsukuru Tsukuru reverse.” The taller man spread a hand and a small shock wave seemed to spread. Hiei felt a sharp pain as his right leg returned to flesh, the bits on the sides that had melted didn’t return, leaving slice-like pieces of flesh missing. Hiei remained silent and watched a Tamamo simply walked away.   
When the taller man had gone Hiei tried to stand but nearly howled in pain as his body spasmed once and fell back to the ground. He knew he’d overused his abilities to the level of insanity. He’d already been drained from defending his mind from Gaza’s powers, add to that calling upon the Dragon and using a supposedly impossible technique he was surprised he was still conscious, even if every moment was agony. His body was physically trying to reject the new Youki he’d created. He bit into his tongue to avoid screaming. He no longer had any control of his body and every vibration set new needles of pain into his entire being.   
He forced himself into a sitting position with one arm and hissed through his teeth as red hot pain shot through him. He opened his Jagan eye, and to his surprise the fog-like distortion had disappeared, even if he didn’t have the energy to see far anyway. He could sense several bodies of Reikai approaching and he slowly reached over and grabbed his sword. He could barely lift it up, even using all his willpower.   
Another door burst open and he heard familiar voices shouting, but he couldn’t quite make out words. He shuddered once more and became limp. His mind began to relax as he ignored the voices and movements around him. One of the last thoughts he had was of how cold it was. He didn’t even realise that it was strange that he even felt the cold.  
He welcomed the darkness as his mind emptied.   
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Roranoa Zoro ran quickly with Nico Robin and Tony Tony Chopper leading the way (They’d complained that he couldn’t keep directions, it wasn’t his fault the halls kept moving). It had taken them much longer than expected to defeat the three bounty hunters each of them had encountered earlier. Robin had told them of the gunman she had faced, while Chopper had recently reunited with the two of them after narrowly defeating a strange man with a zoan fruit ability of a rabbit. Zoro himself had eagerly (and easily) defeated a swordsman, which he was rather happy with. The mystery bounty hunters had announced they’d been hired by Gaza, before they promptly retreated.  
They had been searching for nearly half an hour without sign of their captain or resident demon. In fact the only reason their three paths had converged was because a strange column of dark flame had incinerated a hole straight through the walls of their separate routes. None of them had commented on the unknown incinerator.   
Zoro stopped suddenly as he noticed the other two were slowing down in front of him. Before them stood a tall man, dressed in average clothing, with slicked back grey hair and a cold, indifferent expression. The smell of gunpowder wafted in the air around him. He vaguely regarded them, then moved to the side of the hall to let them pass.  
“Who are you?” Robin asked, regarding him with well deserved suspicion.  
“Tamamo.” The man said simply, “You’re captain and… other guy, are at the end. They may be dead, or not.” Before they could react he stepped around them and continued walking.  
“Wait,” Zoro called out after him, “What’s your gimmick? If the other two are as wounded as you say wouldn’t it just be easy money for you to hand them in?”  
Tamamo’s blank face shifted slightly into what could almost be described as a smile, “Every one has their own code of justice, wouldn’t you agree, Pirate Hunter Zoro-sama. (1)” And without another word he turned away and left.  
Surprisingly Zoro turned immediately after Tamamo left and ran to the door at the end.   
“Is it really okay to trust that he hasn’t left a trap?” Robin murmured as they neared the entrance.   
Zoro nodded, “I think I recognise him from somewhere… just can’t put my finger on it.”  
The door swung open and even Zoro gasped at the scene inside. Luffy lay unconscious, with an impossible amount of blood around him. There seemed to be the beginning to the weird scorched tunnel through their old paths set into the wall. And then there was him. Hiei leant on one arm, his sword weakly held in the other. His lower right leg looked like it had been mauled, with slices of flesh missing. His eyes were unfocussed, he was shaking, not from cold but pain. He seemed to notice them as they entered. The sword fell from his hand and he became limp.   
“LUFFY, HIEI!! Oh no, we need a doctor! Ah! I’m the doctor! Robin, check on Hiei, if he feels cold try to keep him awake any way possible.” Chopper stopped in briefly at Luffy, but seemed shocked by the wound.   
“Is he okay?” Zoro asked, feeling slightly awkward that his crew were in trouble but he couldn’t really help.   
Chopper looked up with wide eyes. “With the angle of the wound, and the amount of blood, you’d expect his lung to be pierced… but even the small cut on the skin is closed, as if beginning the normal healing process after a small cut! He’s just sleeping now, probably exhaustion… Zoro keep an eye on him and tell me if he does anything weird.” Chopper hopped up and ran over to Hiei.  
“He’s like ice.” Robin commented as tried to keep Hiei awake, but he kept slipping. Chopper sighed to himself, desperate times called for desperate measures. He slapped Hiei across the face, not hard enough to do damage, but hard enough to be felt.   
“Hn…” Hiei’s eyes flickered briefly and his body twitched.  
“C’mon Hiei, you have to stay conscious until you’re in a stable condition. Try to stay awake!” Chopper’s heart dropped as he realised Hiei was as cold as the ice around them. “He’s completely exhausted, his bodies going into shock… the legs not bad enough to damage his neural cortex this much… Hiei! Hiei listen to me. Did you get hit by Gaza’s beam again?”  
Hiei’s eyes flickered open again, “Y… yes… not too bad… defended mind… was ready…” Hiei seemed to realise Chopper’s intention of keeping him awake, but he kept hissing in pain.   
“Where is Gaza? I mean there’s not even a body, is he somewhere waiting to attack or something?” Zoro wondered aloud, making the others aware to the possible danger.  
Hiei’s eyes drifted across, “Dead… No body left… Is the captain alive?”  
Chopper nodded, “Yes, it seemed he wasn’t injured badly at all… I was sure that was his blood though…”  
Surprisingly Hiei’s face pulled into a pained smirk, “Hn, take that b****es.” Hiei muttered to himself, almost low enough not to be heard at all, “Who says I’m useless… now.” His words were completely mangled by the end of the sentence. Robin didn’t seem to have heard, but Chopper’s hearing was better than that of a human.   
Hiei fell silent, but stayed conscious as Chopper took a bandage from under his hat (which answered many of the crews questions to where he kept his equipment on the go) and began treating Hiei’s leg wound, as quickly as possible without worsening the wound.   
“We need to get them back to the ship as quickly as possible, Zoro can you take Luffy?” Chopper transformed into his heavy point, “I’ll handle Hiei.”  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
A baby cried down in the village below, and a woman wondered why her door was in pieces. To all the villagers life continued without question. Only a few even realised that the time of day had changed from what they last remembered.

 

1\. I don’t usually use honorifics unless they are important to what is being said. Tamamo adds sama to Zoro’s name to signify great respect. Sanji also uses his usual honorifics for the girls (Swan and Chwan). If I don’t put an honorific behind a name please just assume they are being addressed normally in a way that doesn’t add to conversation. 

The rest of the crew, Nami, Sanji, Ussop, Frankie and Brook, were shocked when the others returned. Zoro carried Luffy through to the male quarters to rest, they didn’t seem that worried about his wounds. Chopper actually ran up, in his heavy point, and carefully took Hiei, who seemed to be in a critical condition, through to the infirmary.   
“What happened?!?” Nami asked Robin, who’d arrived with the others.  
“We do not know,” Robin began, “We found them like this in the end room. We were separated by a group of bounty hunters led by Gaza. One of them froze all the villagers in the town. Luffy ran ahead. Hiei mentioned Gaza was dead when we found him.” Robin quickly abridged the important details she knew, but her explanation raised many questions. Why were Hiei and Luffy found together? What happened to them? How was Gaza killed? Why did Hiei seem so much more damaged than he looked? How was the village returned to normal?  
Down in the infirmary Chopper was moving at an impressive speed. He had brought Ussop down to help him but Ussop didn’t have a chance to do much as Chopper ran around grabbing things and writing things down. Chopper was trying to bring Hiei’s temperature back to the safe level, but he was nervous. Nervous because of Hiei’s anatomy. Hiei hadn’t really told anyone how his body worked and Chopper could only assume that it was slightly similar to that of a human. What other choice did he have? It was also quite disconcerting that Hiei didn’t possess a heartbeat. The boy was deathly cold, and it was as if his entire body was shaking in intense pain.   
Chopper had made the room itself as warm as possible, and covered the majority of Hiei’s body in blankets. He’d left the right leg uncovered, the wound was almost unimaginable. Chopper couldn’t imagine how Hiei could possibly have gotten such a wound. It wasn’t a few cuts, slices or even stabs, it was more as if a few centimetres of flesh had been completely removed, at an even level all around the leg from the ankle to the middle of the shin. As it was, it would be difficult to heal.  
Chopper started by cleaning and using an antiseptic on the wound. He couldn’t really stitch it closed since there was literally no skin or anything really to stitch. He placed a bandage and gauze over it, tight enough to stop any bleeding from the wound possibly reopening, but loose enough as not to let the bandage stick to the flesh.  
Then Chopper thought about the pain. Hiei’s body was reacting as if it was in incredible agony, and not just from the leg. Chopper took some of his heavy duty painkilling medication down from the locked cupboard (away from where anyone *coughLuffycough* could accidently consume them). He placed a pill in Hiei’s mouth and poured in some water to make him swallow.  
Chopper sat down, keeping a watchful eye on the young demon, before sending Ussop away.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Five hours later, Luffy opened his eyes, to see a skull inches from his own face.  
…  
Luffy wasn’t sure how to react to that. On one hand, it was his musician. On the other, it was a god-damn skeleton over his sleeping figure.  
“AH! HIEI!” Luffy seemed to remember something suddenly, and sat up, head-butting Brook.   
“Ah, you’re awake.” Brook stumbled backwards, “I’ll inform Chopper, he wanted to check on you.”  
“Is Hiei okay?” Luffy asked, his voice uncharacteristically urgent.   
“I… I think so, Chopper said he’s sleeping now. He was in pretty bad shape when you guys got ba-”  
He was cut off as the door was flung open and several strawhat members fell in. Nami got to her feet, brushed herself off in a dignified fashion, turned to Luffy and hit him over the head. “What the hell happened!?!”   
Luffy leaned away from her, “Uwa, what do you mean?”  
“How do you guys come back looking like hell? Why would you run in instead of coming here for back-up? How could you think splitting up was a good idea? What the hell happened to Gaza?” Nami yelled with her usual amount of gusto at their captain’s antics.   
“Weeeellll…” Most of the crew sat down, realising it was ‘story time with Luffy’, “It all started when He-Hay told us the villagers had been frozen, but there was people at the top of the mountain. So we climbed to mountain, which was made of ice. When we reached the top there was a cave that went into lots of paths, so I thought it would be quicker if we each took a separate path! It was a good idea at the time.” He defended himself, “Then there was tunnels that took a hecka long time and eventually I went through a door and found Gaza and these four other guys. One of them smelled funny, kinda like gunpowder.” Zoro and Robin realised Luffy was probably talking about the tall grey haired man they’d passed on the way, Tamamo.  
“And then Gaza sent three of the guys to do something… I dunno what, and so it was just me, Hiei, Gaza and the gunpowder guy. It turned out the gunpowder guy had frozen the village and he and Hiei fought for a bit and then he turned part of Hiei’s leg to ice. I was gunna help but Gaza was all like ‘Herp derp, Don’t you see Luffy, there’s no hope, you can’t win Herp derp.’ Luffy used a falsetto voice for Gaza, “And so I fought him for a bit and then I can’t remember what happened next, I just remember being really tired and depressed all of a sudden. And then I realised Gaza had used his beam thing on Hiei again, but Hiei was still standing, he just looked kinda frozen in place. And I was trying to get up but for some reason I had like no energy. Then Gaza stabbed me and it sorta felt like drowning but there was no water so that was weird. And then Hiei’s arm turned into a dragon!! And the dragon ate Gaza! And then Hiei came over to me and I tried to talk but he told me not to and then he was silent for a bit. Then he said something about trying something he’d never done before and he closed his eyes. And then his hand started glowing! And everything felt really cold but good cold not bad cold. And then I could breathe again but Hiei looked like he was in a trace and didn’t move for ages and I tried to snap him out of it before he turned into a duck!” Luffy completed his story and there was silence for several seconds.  
Everyone turned expectantly to Robin for a translation. “It would seem that Luffy was hit by the Gaisho beam which was then exchanged to Hiei, who probably taunted Gaza to get him to change his target.” The whole crew understood why Hiei would try to save Luffy, they all knew what his worst memory would be. “Then as Luffy was trying to regain his strength Gaza stabbed him through the lung… I have no idea what Luffy means by dragon but it would explain a large tunnel through the walls and Gaza’s missing body. I think Hiei must have used something to heal Luffy’s wounds but the pressure would have been too much for him explaining his current condition. Luffy passed out soon after, probably with the hallucination of a duck.”  
“EEHHHHHH??!!!!!!?!??”   
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Hiei’s eyes opened. He was in a tree, overlooking a field of snow. A young girl, she looked only about 7, with teal hair and crimson eyes played with the animals. Hiei sighed in relief, he couldn’t remember what he’d been doing before, but he assumed he’d simply been asleep. He watched the girl for a little longer, satisfied she was happily frolicking.   
He turned to ‘walk’ away when he heard her voice, twisted and pained, “It’s your fault.” His head whipped around and he saw her, covered in blood and scars, “I would have had a happy life if you were never born. Who would want a brother like you? You’re a murderer! A thief! A villain! You can’t even save yourself! You only hurt those who get close to you! You should never have been born!” She screeched at him. His eyes widened in confusion and genuine fear.   
Then he was falling. He didn’t know why but he was falling.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Hiei sat up. His body immediately screamed in protest and he lay back down for a moment. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream. He looked around, slightly confused by his surroundings for a moment. He frowned as he realised he was in the same place he first woke up on the ship. He looked to his left and saw the reindeer, peacefully sleeping.   
Hiei took a moment to check his wounds. His old stab wound from his first arrival had long since healed, which was a good sign. But he could already feel there was something very wrong with his right leg. He inspected the wound through the bandages with his Jagan eye and scowled. It was an awful wound, there was no question about that. It would be difficult to move with his regular speed, in fact he would be lucky to run faster than a human. Granted, his reflexes and the speed of the rest of his body would remain the same, but the leg would drag him back and take longer to heal. To make it worse his head was throbbing.  
He silently sighed, things were getting complicated. The leg itself would be bad enough, but on top of that he could feel his body was dangerously low on Youki. It could take even a week just to recover a third of his strength. He hated this feeling, the waiting and the weakness. He hated the weakness most, knowing that if Tamamo had decided to fight him he would have died. Hiei stood up silently, the room span and he sat down again, he knew he shouldn’t push himself.  
“Nnn?” Choppers eyes flickered open slowly, “Ah, you shouldn’t be moving yet Hiei!” Hiei simply looked at him with eyes that said ‘did you really think I’d stay still?’ “How are you feeling?”  
“It’s not too bad.” Hiei said lightly, he knew he was lying a bit but he also knew he could tolerate this level of pain.   
Chopper crossed his arms, “How are you feeling?” he repeated.  
Hiei held back a sigh, “I’ll be fine, I’ve had worse than this before. I’ll need some time to heal fully though.”  
Chopper cocked his slightly, “Define worse…”  
“Hn… a ton of separate spinal injuries, stab and laceration wounds… a paralysed arm, but that one didn’t really last long… one of the worst would probably the after effects of getting the implant…”  
“Side effects?” Chopper echoed, Hiei noticed he was scribbling some notes in a little book.  
“My body nearly rejected it completely, which would have led to complete deterioration… the procedure didn’t really have a high survival rate…” Hiei put it simply.  
“I see…” Chopper sighed and took one more note on what he had said, “Well, even if you say you’re fine I’m not allowed to let you get away with just that. Can I run a few tests?”  
“Hn.” Hiei shrugged, he didn’t really mind. Chopper lifted the small notebook from his lap, it was titled simply with ‘Hiei’. “I keep a booklet for everyone on the ship.” Chopper explained, before flipping through. For the next twenty minutes Chopper ran multiple tests before any of the crew, *coughLuffycough* would realise Hiei was awake. “Now, Hiei, I don’t really know how a demon body works. I’ve just kinda been hoping it was similar to that of a human.”  
Hiei shrugged, “Well it really depends on the demon, in my case though, I am mostly humanoid in construct. My heart may be like any other demon and not beat, but my blood still moves, and I possess most humanoid organs which serve fairly similar purposes to that of a human.”  
“Well that will make things a lot easier.” Chopper continued, taking a few notes as he went. “Well, physically and mentally you’re exhausted, I can give you some antibiotics for that. You need to avoid putting weight or stress on your leg, I have some crutches you can use if necessary.” (Hiei mentally told himself that wouldn’t happen) “Also, you need to eat something. You can come and have breakfast with the rest of us or I can send Sanji down here to force feed you.” Chopper had a theory that Hiei may be uncomfortable on the subject of eating so he was firm in this order.  
Hiei scowled slightly, “Fine… I’m taking it the captain’s okay?”  
“Yes, he was hardly hurt at all and woke up around five hours after you guys got back. On a serious note though, Luffy said you… healed his fatal wound… what happened?”  
Hiei knew this kind of question would come around, “My… species… has a healing ability. I am a half breed though, and never expected to be able to use any of their abilities… it just happened I guess.” He subtly changed the subject. “How long was I out?”   
“Only four days, you really shouldn’t be moving yet!” Hiei gave Chopper that look again and Chopper sighed, “If you’re going to move around anyway then come have breakfast with the rest of us.”  
“No.”  
“Hiei!”  
“Fine.”   
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Sanji was happy. He watched as the demon sat with the rest of them, eating and casually avoiding questions. The demon may not have had the greatest table manners in the world, but he used cutlery! He also ate a human amount of food instead of eating as if he hadn’t eaten in a week. Which was strange because he wasn’t human and he actually hadn’t eaten in over a week, unlike other members of the crew who inhaled food as if they hadn’t eaten dinner the night before. He simply ate the food set before him, while ignoring most of the banter around him.  
“This is good…” Hiei murmured quietly to himself.   
“I’m taking it you haven’t eaten much human food before, huh.” Sanji remarked.   
Hiei shrugged, “I tried a thing called coffee before…”  
“What did you usually eat?” Sanji asked, keeping the conversation between the two of them going.  
“In the Ningenkai I would hunt animals sometimes, that of level D demons.”  
“Isn’t that cannibalism?” Sanji raised an eyebrow, but not his voice.  
Hiei shook his head, “No… It’s kind of like the title of ‘demon’ is given to anything born from the Makai.” He explained in his usual monotone. Sanji noted, from this short conversation that this may be the first actual prepared meal the demon had eaten.  
“Hey, Hiei, could you tell us what happened back at the last island? In the final room to be more specific?” Nami caught Hiei’s attention and the table became moderately quieter, “Luffy’s recount wasn’t exactly reliable.” (Luffy pouted at this)  
Hiei sighed and began the story, knowing it would be a long one. “As you probably know that guy… Garry… Gazsy… You know who I mean… (Hiei hadn’t bothered to remember the name) He had the whole thing planned out as some crazy revenge scheme. I fought with his ally for a while, Luffy got hit by that weird beam thing. I had Garry switch the beam to me.”  
“Um… you don’t really seem like the type to do that kind of thing.” Nami said bluntly. “Why would you?”  
“Does that really matter?” He continued, “I had my Jagan eye open and had enough control over my own mind not to lose myself. Although it seems I underestimated it… The weird guy stabbed Luffy through the lung as I saw a particularly painful memory… And I used my trump card, which, ultimately led to Gaza’s demise. When I had regained my composure I went to Luffy, who was surprisingly not dead by that point. I used a technique that… isn’t exactly possible, to put it lightly. The technique healed the captain, the guy with the grey hair decided to leave the village alone, and then I guess I passed out.” Hiei concluded the anecdote quickly and only including the important details, but it was enough.  
“No offense Hiei,” Nami broke the silence, “But I was under the impression you didn’t really care for other people, so to go as far as using a forbidden technique to save the idiot seems rather strange.”  
Hiei twitched uncharacteristically, “It’s not like that idiot! I’m catching a lift with your lot so it would be inconvenient if you were slowed down!”   
Robin smiled a little, a single word occupying her thoughts. ‘Tsundere’  
Unsurprisingly Luffy broke the small silence, “Oh, Hiei, you’ve had ages to think about it! Join my crew!”  
Hiei hesitated, but only for a single moment, “Fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like it? Hate it? Let me know. I'll upload another chapter with a fight scene in either a week or a fortnight, depending on my finals.


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